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CONTENTS. 

I.  What  knowledge  is  of  most  wokth?..  5 

II.  Intellectual  education 83 

III.  Moral  education 149 

IY.  Physical  education 209 


8 i 3077 


EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHAT  KNOWLEDGE  IS  OF  MOST  WORTH? 

It  has  been  truly  remarked  that,  in  order  of 
time,  decoration  precedes  dress.  Among 
people  who  submit  to  great  physical  suffering 
that  they  may  have  themselves  handsomely 
tattooed,  extremes  of  temperature  are  borne 
with  but  little  attempt  at  mitigation.  Hum- 
boldt tells  us  that  an  Orinoco  Indian,  though 
quite  regardless  of  bodily  comfort,  will  yet 
labor  for  a fortnight  to  purchase  pigment 
wherewith  to  make  himself  admired ; and  that 
the  same  woman  who  would  not  hesitate  to 
leave  her  hut  without  a fragment  of  clothing 
on,  would  not  dare  to  commit  such  a breach 
of  decorum  as  to  go  out  unpainted.  Voyagers 
uniformly  find  that  colored  beads  and  trinkets 
are  much  more  prized  by  wild  tribes  than  are 
calicoes  or  broadcloths.  And  the  anecdotes 
we  have  of  the  ways  in  which,  when  shirts 
and  coats  are  given,  they  turn  them  to  some 
ludicrous  display,  show  how  completely  the 
idea  of  ornament  predominates  over  that  of 
use.  Nay,  there  are  still  more  extreme  illus- 
trations : witness  the  fact  narrated  by  Capt, 


6 


EDUCATION.. 


Speke  of  his  African  attendants,  who  strutted 
about  in  their  goat-skin  mantles  when  the 
weather  was  fine,  but  when  it  was  wet,  took 
them  off,  folded  them  up,  and  went  about 
naked,  shivering  in  the  rain!  Indeed,  the 
facts  of  aboriginal  life  seem  to  indicate  that 
dress  is  developed  out  of  decorations.  And 
when  we  remember  that  even  among  ourselves 
most  think  more  about  the  fineness  of  the 
fabric  than  its  warmth,  and  more  about  the 
cut  than  the  convenience — when  we  see  that 
the  function  is  still  in  great  measure  subordi- 
nated to  the  appearance — we  have  further  rea- 
son for  inferring  such  an  origin. 

It  is  not  a little  curious  that  the  like  rela- 
tions hold  with  the  mind.  Among  mental  as 
among  bodily  acquisitions,  the  ornamental 
comes  before  the  useful.  Not  only  in  times 
past,  but  almost  as  much  in  our  own  era,  that 
knowledge  which  conduces  to  personal  well- 
being has  been  postponed  to  that  which  brings 
applause.  In  the  Greek  schools,  music, 
poetry,  rhetoric,  and  a philosophy  which,  un- 
til Socrates  taught,  had  but  little  bearing  up- 
on action,  were  the  dominant  subjects;  while 
knowledge  aiding  the  arts  of  life  had  a very 
subordinate  place.  And  in  our  own  universi- 
ties and  schools  at  the  present  moment  the 
like  antithesis  holds.  We  are  guilty  of  some- 
thing like  a platitude  when  we  say  that 
throughout  his  after-career  a boy,  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  applies  his  Latin  and  Greek 
to  no  practical  purposes.  The  remark  is  trite 
that  in  his  shop,  or  his  office,  in  managing  his 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH. 


7 


estate  or  his  family,  in  playing  his  part  as 
director  of  a hank  or  a railway,  he  is  very 
little  aided  by  this  knowledge  he  took  so  many 
years  to  acquire — so  little,  that  generally  the 
greater  part  of  it  drops  out  of  his  memory ; 
and  if  he  occasionally  vents  a Latin  quotation, 
or  alludes  to  some  Greek  myth,  it  is  less  to 
throw  light  on  the  topic  in  hand  than  for  the 
sake  of  effect.  If  we  inquire  what  is  the  real 
motive  for  giving  boys  a classical  education, 
we  find  it  to  be  simply  conformity  to  public 
opinion.  Men  dress  their  children’s  minds  as 
they  do  their  bodies,  in  the  prevailing  fash- 
ion. As  the  Orinoco  Indian  puts  on  his  paint 
before  leaving  his  hut,  not  with  a view  to  any 
direct  benefit,  but  because  he  would  be 
ashamed  to  be  seen  without  it ; so,  a boy’s  drill- 
ing in  Latin  and  Greek  is  insisted  on,  not  be- 
cause of  their  intrinsic  value,  but  that  he  may 
not  be  disgraced  by  being  found  ignorant  of 
them — that  he  may  have  ‘ ‘ the  education  of  a 
gentleman  ” — the  badge  marking  a certain 
social  position,  and  bringing  a consequent  re- 
spect. 

This  parallel  is  still  more  clearly  displayed 
in  the  case  of  the  other  sex.  In  the  treatment 
of  both  mind  and  body,  the  decorative  element 
has  continued  to  predominate  in  a greater  de- 
gree among  women  than  among  men.  Origi- 
nally, personal  adornment  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  both  sexes  equally.  In  these  latter 
days  of  civilization,  however,  we  see  that  in 
the  dress  of  men  the  regard  for  appearance 
has  in  a considerable  degree  yielded  to  the  re- 


8 


EDUCATION, 


gard  for  comfort ; while  in  their  education  the 
useful  has  of  late  been  trenching  on  the  orna- 
mental. In  neither  direction  has  this  change 
gone  so  far  with  women.  The  wearing  of  ear- 
rings, finger-rings,  bracelets;  the  elaborate 
dressings  of  the  hair ; the  still  occasional  use 
of  paint ; the  immense  labor  bestowed  in  mak- 
ing habiliments  sufficiently  attractive;  and 
the  great  discomfort  that  will  be  submitted  to 
for  the  sake  of  conformity ; show  how  greatly 
in  the  attiring  of  women,  the  desire  of  appro- 
bation overrides  the  desire  for  warmth  and 
convenience.  And  similarly  in  their  educa- 
tion, the  immense  preponderance  of  “accom- 
plishments ” proves  how  here,  too,  use  is  sub- 
ordinated to  display.  Dancing,  deportment, 
the  piano,  singing,  drawing — what  a large 
space  do  these  occupy ! If  you  ask  why  Ital- 
ian and  German  are  learnt,  you  will  find  that 
under  all  the  sham  reasons  given,  the  real 
reason  is,  that  a knowledge  of  those  tongues 
is  thought  ladylike.  It  is  not  that  the  books 
written  in  them  may  be  utilized,  which  they 
scarcely  ever  are ; but  that  Italian  and  Ger- 
man songs  may  be  sung,  and  that  the  extent 
of  attainment  may  bring  whispered  admira- 
tion. The  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  of 
kings,  and  other  like  historic  trivialities,  are 
committed  to  memory,  not  because  of  any  di- 
rect benefits  that  can  possibly  result  from 
knowing  them ; but  because  society  considers 
them  parts  of  a good  education — because  the 
absence  of  such  knowledge  may  bring  the  con- 
tempt of  others.  When  we  have  named  read- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WO  11TIL 


9 


in g,  writing,  spelling,  grammar,  arithmetic, 
and  sewing,  we  have  named  about  all  the 
things  a girl  is  taught  with  a view  to  their 
direct  uses  in  life;  and  even  some  of  these 
have  more  reference  to  the  good  opinion  of 
others  than  to  immediate  personal  welfare. 

Thoroughly  to  realize  the  truth  that  with 
the  mind  as  with  the  body  the  ornamental 
precedes  the  useful,  it  is  needful  to  glance  at 
its  rationale.  This  lies  in  the  fact  that,  from 
the  far  past  down  even  to  the  present,  social 
needs  have  subordinated  individual  needs, 
and  that  the  chief  social  need  has  been  the 
control  of  individuals.  It  is  not,  as  we  com- 
monly suppose,  that  there  are  no  governments 
but  those  of  monarchs,  and  parliaments,  and 
constituted  authorities.  These  acknowledged 
governments  are  supplemented  by  other  un- 
acknowledged ones,  that  grow  up  in  all  cir- 
cles, in  which  every  man  or  woman  strives  to 
be  king  or  queen  or  lesser  dignitary.  To  get 
above  some  and  be  reverenced  by  them,  and 
to  propitiate  those  who  are  above  us,  is  the 
universal  struggle  in  which  the  chief  energies 
of  life  are  expended.  By  the  accumulation  of 
wealth,  by  style  of  living,  by  beauty  of  dress, 
by  display  of  knowledge  or  intellect,  each 
tries  to  subjugate  others ; and  so  aids  in  weav- 
ing that  ramified  network  of  restraints  by 
which  society  is  kept  in  order.  It  is  not  the 
savage  chief  only,  who,  in  formidable  war- 
paint, with  scalps  at  his  belt,  aims  to  strike 
awe  into  his  inferiors ; it  is  not  only  the  belle 
who,  by  elaborate  toilet,  polished  manners, 


10 


EDUCATION. 


and  numerous  accomplishments,  strives  to 
“make  conquests;”  but  the  scholar,  the  his- 
torian, the  philosopher,  use  their  acquire- 
ments to  the  same  end.  We  are  none  of  us 
content  with  quietly  unfolding  our  own  indi- 
vidualities to  the  full  in  all  directions;  but 
have  a restless  craving  to  impress  our  indi- 
vidualities upon  others,  and  in  some  way  sub- 
ordinate them.  And  this  it  is  which  deter- 
mines the  character  of  our  education.  Not 
what  knowledge  is  of  most  real  worth,  is  the 
consideration ; but  what  will  bring  most  ap- 
plause, honor,  respect — what  will  most  con- 
duce to  social  position  and  influence — what 
will  be  most  imposing.  As,  throughout  life, 
not  what  we  are,  but  what  we  shall  be  thought, 
is  the  question;  so  in  education,  the  question 
is,  not  the  intrinsic  value  of  knowledge,  so 
much  as  its  extrinsic  effects  on  others.  And 
this  being  our  dominant  idea,  direct  utility  is 
scarcely  more  regarded  than  by  the  barba- 
rian when  filing  his  teeth  and  staining  his 
nails. 

If  there  needs  any  further  evidence  of  the 
rude,  undeveloped  character  of  our  education, 
we  have  it  in  the  fact  that  the  comparative 
worths  of  different  kinds  of  knowledge  have 
been  as  yet  scarcely  even  discussed — much 
less  discussed  in  a methodic  way  with  definite 
results.  Not  only  is  it  that  no  standard  of 
relative  values  has  yet  been  agreed  upon ; but 
the  existence  of  any  such  standard  has  not 
been  conceived  in  any  clear  manner.  And  not 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  11 


only  is  it  that  the  existence  of  any  such  stand- 
ard has  not  been  clearly  conceived ; but  the 
need  for  it  seems  to  have  been  scarcely  even 
felt.  Men  read  books  on  this  topic,  and  at- 
tend lectures  on  that ; decide  that  their  chil- 
dren shall  be  instructed  in  these  branches  of 
knowledge,  and  shall  not  be  instructed  in 
those;  and  all  under  the  guidance  of  mere 
custom,  or  liking,  or  prejudice;  without  ever 
considering  the  enormous  importance  of  de- 
termining in  some  rational  way  what  things 
are  really  most  worth  learning.  It  is  true 
that  in  all  circles  we  have  occasional  remarks 
on  the  importance  of  this  or  the  other  order 
of  information.  But  whether  the  degree  of 
its  importance  justifies  the  expenditure  of  the 
time  needed  to  acquire  it ; and  whether  there 
are  not  things  of  more  importance  to  which 
the  time  might  be  better  devoted ; are  queries 
which,  if  raised  at  all,  are  disposed  of  quite 
summarily,  according  to  personal  predilec- 
tions. It  is  true  also,  that  from  time  to  time, 
we  hear  revived  the  standing  controversy  re- 
specting the  comparative  merits  of  classics 
and  mathematics.  Not  only,  however,  is  this 
controversy  carried  on  in  an  empirical  man- 
ner, with  no  reference  to  an  ascertained  crite- 
rion ; but  the  question  at  issue  is  totally  insig- 
nificant when  compared  with  the  general 
question  of  which  it  is  part.  To  suppose  that 
deciding  whether  a mathematical  or  a classi- 
cal education  is  the  best,  is  deciding  what  is 
the  proper  curriculum , is  much  the  same  thing 
as  to  suppose  that  the  whole  of  dietetics  lies 


12 


EDUCATION. 


in  determining  whether  or  not  bread  is  more 
nutritive  than  potatoes ! 

The  question  which  we  contend  is  of  such 
transcendent  moment,  is,  not  whether  such  or 
such  knowledge  is  of  worth,  but  what  is  its 
relative  worth?  When  they  have  named  cer- 
tain advantages  which  a given  course  of  study 
has  secured  them,  persons  are  apt  to  assume 
that  they  have  justified  themselves:  quite 
forgetting  that  the  adequateness  of  the  advan- 
tages is  the  point  to  be  judged.  There  is,  per- 
haps, not  a subject  to  which  men  devote  at- 
tention that  has  not  some  value.  A year  dili- 
gently spent  in  getting  up  heraldry,  would 
very  possibly  give  a little  further  insight  into 
ancient  manners  and  morals,  and  into  the 
origin  of  names.  Any  one  who  should  learn 
the  distances  between  all  the  towns  in  Eng- 
land, might,  in  the  course  of  his  life,  find  one 
or  two  of  the  thousand  facts  he  had  acquired 
of  some  slight  service  when  arranging  a jour- 
ney. Gathering  together  all  the  small  gossip 
of  a county,  profitless  occupation  as  it  would 
be,  might  yet  occasionally  help  to  establish 
some  useful  fact — say,  a good  example  of  he- 
reditary transmission.  But  in  these  cases, 
every  one  would  admit  that  there  was  no  pro- 
portion between  the  required  labor  and  the 
probable  benefit.  No  one  would  tolerate  the 
proposal  to  devote  some  years  of  a boy’s  time 
to  getting  such  information,  at  the  cost  of 
much  more  valuable  information  which  he 
might  else  have  got.  And  if  here  the  test  of 
relative  value  is  appealed  to  and  held  conclm 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  13 


sive,  then  should  it  be  appealed  to  and  held 
conclusive  throughout.  Had  we  time  to  mas- 
ter all  subjects  we  need  not  be  particular.  To 
quote  the  old  song: — 

Could  a man  be  secure 

That  his  days  would  endure 

As  of  old,  for  a thousand  long  years, 

What  things  might  he  know ! 

What  deeds  might  he  do  3 
And  all  without  hurry  or  care. 

“But  we  that  have  but  span-long  lives” 
must  ever  bear  in  mind  our  limited  time  for 
acquisition.  And  remembering  how  nar- 
rowly this  time  is  limited,  not  only  by  the 
shortness  of  life,  but  also  still  more  by  the 
business  of  life,  we  ought  to  be  especially  so- 
licitous to  employ  what  time  we  have  to  the 
greatest  advantage.  • Before  devoting  years 
to  some  subject  which  fashion  or  fancy  sug- 
gests, it  is  surely  wise  to  weigh  with  great 
care  the  worth  of  the  results,  as  compared 
with  the  worth  of  various  alternative  results 
which  the  same  years  might  bring  if  other- 
wise applied. 

In  education,  then,  this  is  the  question  of 
questions,  which  it  is  high  time  we  discussed 
in  some  methodic  way.  The  first  in  impor- 
tance, though  the  last  to  be  considered,  is  the 
problem — how  to  decide  among  the  conflict- 
ing claims  of  various  subjects  on  our  atten- 
tion. Before  there  can  be  a rational  curricu- 
lum, we  must  settle  which  things  it  most 
concerns  us  to  know;  or,  to  use  a word  of 
Bacon’s,  now  unfortunately  obsolete  — we 


14 


EDUCATION. 


must  determine  the  relative  values  of  knowl- 
edges. 

To  this  end,  a measure  of  value  is  the  first 
requisite.  And  happily,  respecting  the  true 
measure  of  value,  as  expressed  in  general 
terms,  there  can  he  no  dispute.  Every  one 
in  contending  for  the  worth  of  any  particular 
order  of  information,  does  so  by  showing  its 
bearing  upon  some  part  of  life.  In  reply  to 
the  question,  u Of  what  use  is  it?  ” the  mathe- 
matician, linguist,  naturalist,  or  philosopher, 
explains  the  way  in  which  his  learning  bene- 
ficially influences  action — saves  from  evil  or 
secures  good — conduces  to  happiness.  When 
the  teacher  of  writing  has  pointed  out  how 
great  an  aid  writing  is  to  success  in  business 
— that  is,  to  the  obtainment  of  sustenance— 
that  is,  to  satisfactory  living ; he  is  held  to 
have  proved  his  case.  And  when  the  collec- 
tor of  dead  facts  (say  a numismatist)  fails  to 
make  clear  any  appreciable  effects  which 
these  facts  can  produce  on  human  welfare,  he 
is  obliged  to  admit  that  they  are  compara- 
tively valueless.  All  then,  either  directly  or 
by  implication,  appeal  to  this  as  the  ultimate 
test. 

How  to  live? — that  is  the  essential  question 
for  us.  Not  how  to  live  in  the  mere  material 
sense  only,  but  in  the  widest  sense.  The  gen- 
eral problem  which  comprehends  every  spe- 
cial problem  is — the  right  ruling  of  conduct 
in  all  directions  under  all  circumstances.  In 
what  way  to  treat  the  body ; in  what  way  to 
treat  the  mind ; in  what  way  to  manage  our 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  15 

affairs ; in  what  way  to  bring  up  a family ; 
in  what  way  to  behave  as  a citizen ; in  what 
way  to  utilize  all  those  sources  of  happiness 
which  nature  supplies — how  to  use  all  our  fac- 
ulties to  the  greatest  advantage  of  ourselves 
and  others — how  to  live  completely?  And 
this  being  the  great  thing  needful  for  us 
to  learn,  is,  by  consequence,  the  great  thing 
which  education  has  to  teach.  To  prepare  us 
for  complete  living  is  the  function  which  ed- 
ucation has  to  discharge ; and  the  only  ra- 
tional mode  of  judging  of  any  educational 
course  is,  to  judge  in  what  degree  it  discharges 
such  function. 

This  test,  never  used  in  its  entirety,  but 
rarely  even  partially  used,  and  used  then  in 
a vague,  half  conscious  way,  has  to  be  ap- 
plied consciously,  methodically,  and  through- 
out all  cases.  It  behoves  us  to  set  before  our- 
selves, and  ever  to  keep  clearly  in  view,  com- 
plete living  as  the  end  to  be  achieved ; 
so  that  in  bringing  up  our  children  we  may 
choose  subjects  and  methods  of  instruction, 
with  deliberate  reference  to  this  end.  Not 
only  ought  we  to  cease  from  the  mere  un- 
thinking adoption  of  the  current  fashion  in 
education,  which  has  no  better  warrant  than 
any  other  fashion;  but  we  must  also  rise 
above  that  rude,  empirical  style  of  judging 
displayed  by  those  more  intelligent  people 
who  do  bestow  some  care  in  overseeing  the 
cultivation  of  their  children’s  minds.  It 
must  not  suffice  simply  to  think  that  such  or 
such  information  will  be  useful  in  after  life, 


16 


EDUCATION . 


or  that  this  kind  of  knowledge  is  of  more 
practical  value  than  that ; but  we  must  seek 
out  some  process  of  estimating  their  respect- 
ive values,  so  that  as  far  as  possible  we  may 
positively  know  which  are  most  deserving  of 
attention. 

Doubtless  the  task  is  difficult — perhaps 
never  to  be  more  than  approximately  achiev- 
ed. But,  considering  the  vastness  of  the  in- 
terests at  stake,  its  difficulty  is  no  reason  for 
pusillanimously  passing  it  by ; but  rather  for 
devoting  every  energy  to  its  mastery.  And 
if  we  only  proceed  systematically,  we  may 
very  soon  get  at  results  of  no  small  moment. 

Our  first  step  must  obviously  be  to  classify, 
in  the  order  of  their  importance,  the  leading 
kinds  of  activity  which  constitute  human 
life.  They  may  be  naturally  arranged  into : 
— 1.  Those  activities  which  directly  minister 
to  self-preservation;  2.  Those  activities 
which,  by  securing  the  necessaries  of  life,  in- 
directly minister  to  self-preservation ; 3. 

Those  activities  which  have  for  their  end  the 
rearing  and  discipline  of  offspring ; 4.  Those 
activities  which  are  involved  in  the  mainten- 
ance of  proper  social  and  political  relations ; 
5.  Those  miscellaneous  activities  which  make 
up  the  leisure  part  of  life,  devoted  to  the 
gratification  of  the  tastes  and  feelings. 

That  these  stand  in  something  like  their 
true  order  of  subordination,  it  needs  no  long 
consideration  to  show.  The  actions  and  pre- 
cautions by  which,  from  moment  to  moment, 
we  secure  personal  safety,  must  clearly  take 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOBTII.  17 


precedence  of  all  others.  Could  there  be  a 
man,  ignorant  as  an  infant  of  all  surrounding 
objects  and  movements,  or  how  to  guide  him- 
self among  them,  he  would  pretty  certainly 
lose  his  life  the  first  time  he  went  into  the 
street : notwithstanding  any  amount  of  learn- 
ing he  might  have  on  other  matters.  And  as 
entire  ignorance  in  all  other  directions  would 
be  less  promptly  fatal  than  entire  ignorance 
in  this  direction,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
knowledge  immediately  conducive  to  self-pres- 
ervation is  of  primary  importance. 

That  next  after  direct  self-preservation 
comes  the  indirect  self-preservation  which 
consists  in  acquiring  the  means  of  living, 
none  will  question.  That  a man’s  industrial 
functions  must  be  considered  before  his  pa- 
rental ones,  is  manifest  from  the  fact  that, 
speaking  generally,  the  discharge  of  the  pa- 
rental functions  is  made  possible  only  by  the 
previous  discharge  of  the  industrial  ones.  The 
power  of  self -maintenance  necessarily  pre- 
ceding the  power  of  maintaining  offspring,  it 
follows  that  knowledge  needful  for  self-main, 
tenance  has  stronger  claims  than  knowledge 
needful  for  family  welfare — is  second  in  value 
to  none  save  knowledge  needful  for  immedi- 
ate self-preservation. 

As  the  family  comes  before  the  State  in  or- 
der of  time — as  the  bringing  up  of  children  is 
possible  before  the  State  exists,  or  when  it  has 
ceased  to  be,  whereas  the  State  is  rendered 
possible  only  by  the  bringing  up  of  chil- 
dren ; it  follows  that  the  duties  of  the  parent 
2 


18 


EDUCATION. 


demand  closer  attention  than  those  of  the 
citizen.  Or,  to  use  a further  argument — 
since  the  goodness  of  a society  ultimately  de- 
pends on  the  nature  of  its  citizens ; and  since 
the  nature  of  its  citizens  is  more  modifiable 
by  early  training  than  by  anything  else; 
we  must  conclude  that  the  welfare  of  the 
family  underlies  the  welfare  of  society.  And 
hence  knowledge  directly  conducing  to  the 
first,  must  take  precedence  of  knowledge  di- 
rectly conducing  to  the  last. 

Those  various  forms  of  pleasurable  occupa- 
tion which  fill  up  the  leisure  left  by  graver 
occupations — the  enjoyments  of  music,  poe- 
try, painting,  etc. — manifestly  imply  a pre- 
existing society.  Not  only  is  a considerable 
development  of  them  impossible  without  a 
long-established  social  union;  but  their  very 
subject-matter  consists  in  great  part  of  so- 
cial sentiments  and  sympathies.  Not  only 
does  society  supply  the  conditions  to  their 
growth;  but  also  the  ideas  and  sentiments 
they  express.  And,  consequently,  that  part 
of  human  conduct  which  constitutes  good 
citizenship  is  of  more  moment  than  that 
which  goes  out  in  accomplishments  or  exer- 
cise of  the  tastes;  and,  in  education,  prepa- 
ration for  the  one  must  rank  before  prepa- 
ration for  the  other. 

Such  then,  we  repeat,  is  something  like  the 
rational  order  of  subordination : — That  educa- 
tion which  prepares  for  direct  self-preserva- 
tion; that  which  prepares  for  indirect  self- 
preservation;  that  which  prepares  for  parent- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  19 


hood;  that  which  prepares  for  citizenship; 
that  which  prepares  for  the  miscellaneous 
refinements  of  life:  We  do  not  mean  to 

say  that  these  divisions  are  definitely  sepa- 
rable. We  do  not  deny  that  they  are  in- 
tricately entangled  with  each  other  in  such 
way  that  there  can  be  no  training  for  any 
that  is  not  in  some  measure  a training  for  all. 
Nor  do  we  question  that  of  each  division 
there  are  portions  more  important  than  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  preceding  divisions : that, 
for  instance,  a man  of  much  skill  in  business 
but  little  other  faculty,  may  fall  further  be- 
low the  standard  of  complete  living  than  one 
of  but  moderate  power  of  acquiring  money 
but  great  judgment  as  a parent;  or  that  ex- 
haustive information  bearing  on  right  social 
action,  joined  with  entire  want  qj:  general 
culture  in  literature  and  the  fine  arts,  is  less 
desirable  than  a more  moderate  share  of  the 
one  joined  with  some  of  the  other.  But,  after 
making  all*  qualifications,  there  still  remain 
these  broadly-marked  divisions;  and  it  still 
continues  substantially  true  that  these  di- 
visions subordinate  one  another  in  the  fore- 
going order,  because  the  corresponding  'di- 
visions of  life  make  one  another  possible  in 
that  order. 

Of  course  the  ideal  of  education  is— com- 
plete preparation  in  all  these  divisions.  But 
failing  this  ideal,  as  in  our  phase  of  civiliza- 
tion every  one  must  do  more  or  less,  the  aim 
should  be  to  maintain  a due  proportion  be- 
tw£ry>  the  degrees  of  preparation  in  each. 


20 


EDUCATION . 


Not  exhaustive  cultivation  in  any  one,  su- 
premely important  though  it  may  be — not 
even  an  exclusive  attention  to  the  two,  three, 
or  four  divisions  of  greatest  importance ; but 
an  attention  to  all, — greatest  where  the  value 
is  greatest,  less  where  the  value  is  less,  least 
where  the  value  is  least.  For  the  average 
man  (not  to  forget  the  cases  in  which  pecul- 
iar aptitude  for  some  one  department  of 
knowledge  rightly  makes  that  one  the  bread- 
winning occupation) — for  the  average  man, 
we  say,  the  desideratum  is,  a training  that 
approaches  nearest  to  perfection  in  the  things 
which  most  subserve  complete  living,  and 
falls  more  and  more  below  perfection  in  the 
things  that  have  more  and  more  remote 
bearings  on  complete  living. 

In  regulating  education  by  this  standard, 
there  are  some  general  considerations  that 
should  be  ever  present  to  us.  The  worth  of 
any  kind  of  culture,  as  aiding  complete  living, 
may  be  either  necessary  or  more  or  less  con- 
tingent. There  is  knowledge  of  intrinsic 
value ; knowledge  of  quasi-intrinsic  value  and 
knowledge  of  conventional  value.  Such  facts 
as  that  sensations  of  numbness  and  tingling 
commonly  precede  paralysis,  that  the  resist- 
ance of  water  to  a body  moving  through  it 
varies  as  the  square  of  the  velocity,  that 
chlorine  is  a disinfectant, — these,  and  the 
truths  of  Science  in  general,  are  of  intrinsic 
value : they  will  bear  on  human  conduct  ten 
thousand  years  hence  as  they  do  now.  The 
extra  knowledge  of  our  own  language,  which 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH . 21 


is  given  by  an  acquaintance  with  Latin  and 
Greek,  may  be  considered  to  have  a value 
that  is  quasi-intrinsic : it  must  exist  for  us 
and  for  other  races  whose  languages  owe 
much  to  these  sources ; but  will  last  only  as 
long  as  our  languages  last.  While  that  kind 
of  information  which,  in  our.  schools,  usurps 
the  name  History — the  mere  tissue  of  names 
and  dates  and  dead  unmeaning  events — has  a 
conventional  value  only:  it  has  not  the  re- 
motest bearing  upon  any  of  our  actions ; and 
is  of  use  only  for  the  avoidance  of  those  un- 
pleasant criticisms  which  current  opinion 
passes  upon  its  absence.  Of  course,  as  those 
facts  which  concern  all  mankind  throughout 
all  time  must  be  held  of  greater  moment  than 
those  which  concern  only  a portion  of  them 
during  a limited  era,  and  of  far  greater  mo- 
ment than  those  which  concern  only  a portion 
of  them  during  the  continuance  of  a fashion ; 
it  follows  that  in  a rational  estimate,  knowl- 
edge of  intrinsic  worth  must,  other  things 
equal,  ta*ke  precedence  of  knowledge  that  is 
of  quasi-intrinsic  or  conventional  worth. 

One  further  preliminary.  Acquirement  of 
every  kind  has  two  values — value  as  knowl- 
edge and  value  as  discipline.  Besides  its  use 
for  guidance  in  conduct,  the  acquisition  of 
each  order  of  facts  has  also  its  use  as  mental 
exercise ; and  its  effects  as  a preparative  for 
complete  living  have  to  be  considered  under 
both  these  heads. 

These,  then,  are  the  general  ideas  with 
which  we  must  set  out  in  discussing  a curric - 


22 


EDUCATION. 


ulum : — Life  as  divided  into  several  kinds  of 
activity  of  successively  decreasing  impor- 
tance; the  worth  of  each  order  of  facts  as 
regulating  these  several  kinds  of  activity, 
intrinsically,  quasi-intrinsically,  and  conven- 
tionally ; and  their  regulative  influences  esti- 
mated both  as  knowledge  and  discipline. 

Happily,  that  all-important  part  of  educa- 
tion which  goes  to  secure  direct  self-preser- 
vation, is  in  great  part  already  provided  for. 
Too  momentous  to  be  left  to  our  blundering, 
Nature  takes  it  into  her  own  hands.  While 
yet  in  its  nurse’s  arms,  the  infant,  by  hiding 
its  face  and  crying  at  the  sight  of  a stranger, 
shows  the  dawning  instinct  to  attain  safety 
by  flying  from  that  which  is  unknown  and 
may  be  dangerous ; and  when  it  can  walk, 
the  terror  it  manifests  if  an  unfamiliar  dog 
comes  near,  or  the  screams  with  which  it 
runs  to  its  mother  after  any  startling  sight  or 
sound,  shows  this  instinct  further  developed. 
Moreover,  knowledge  subserving  direct  self- 
preservation  is  that  which  it  is  chiefly  busied 
in  acquiring  from  hour  to  hour.  How  to 
balance  its  body ; how  to  control  its  move- 
ments so  as  to  avoid  collisions ; what  objects 
are  hard,  and  will  hurt  if  struck ; what  ob- 
jects are  heavy,  and  in  jure  if  they  fall  on  the 
limbs ; which  things  will  bear  the  weight  of 
the  body,  and  which  not;  the  pains  inflicted 
by  fire,  by  missiles,  by  sharp  instruments — 
these,  and  various  other  pieces  of  informa^ 
tion  needful  for  the  avoidance  of  death  or  ac- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH . 23 

cident,  it  is  ever  learning.  And  when,  a few 
years  later,  the  energies  go  out  in  running, 
climbing,  and  jumping,  in  games  of  strength 
and  games  of  skill,  we  see  in  all  these  actions 
by  which  the  muscles  are  developed,  the  per- 
ceptions sharpened,  and  the  judgment 
quickened,  a preparation  for  the  safe  con- 
duct of  the  body  among  surrounding  objects 
and  movements ; and  for  meeting  those 
greater  dangers  that  occasionally  occur  in 
the  lives  of  all.  Being  thus,  as  we  say,  so 
well  cared  for  by  Nature,  this  fundamental 
education  needs  comparatively  little  care 
from  us.  What  we  are  chiefly  called  upon  to 
see,  is,  that  there  shall  be  free  scope  for  gain- 
ing this  experience,  and  receiving  this  disci- 
pline,— that  there  shall  be  no  such  thwarting 
of  Nature  as  that  by  which  stupid  schoolmis- 
tresses commonly  prevent  the  girls  in  their 
charge  from  the  spontaneous  physical  activi- 
ties they  would  indulge  in;  and  so  render 
them  comparatively  incapable  of  taking  care 
of  themselves  in  circumstances  of  peril. 

This,  however,  is  by  no  means  all  that  is 
comprehended  in  the  education  that  prepares 
for  direct  self-preservation.  Besides  guard-  • 
ing  the  body  against  mechanical  damage  or 
destruction,  it  has  to  be  guarded  against  in- 
jury from  other  causes — against  the  disease 
and  death  that  follow  breaches  of  physiologic 
law.  For  complete  living  it  is  necessary,  not 
only  that  sudden  annihilations  of  life  shall  bo 
warded  off ; but  also  that  there  .shall  be  es- 
caped the  incapacities  and  the  slow  annihila- 


24 


EDUCATION. 


tion  which  unwise  habits  entail.  As,  with- 
out health  and  energy,  the  industrial,  the  pa- 
rental, the  social,  and  all  other  activities  be- 
come more  or  less  impossible ; it  is  clear  that 
this  secondary  kind  of  direct  self-preservation 
is  only  less  important  than  the  primary  kind ; 
and  that  knowledge  tending  to  secure  it 
should  rank  very  high. 

It  is  true  that  here,  too,  guidance  is  in  some 
measure  ready  supplied.  By  our  various 
physical  sensations  and  desires,  Nature  has 
insured  a tolerable  conformity  to  the  chief  re- 
quirements. Fortunately  for  us,  want  of 
food,  great  heat,  extreme  cold,  produce 
promptings  too  peremptory  to  be  disregarded. 
And  would  men  habitually  obey  these  and  all 
like  promptings  when  less  strong,  compara- 
tively few  evils  would  arise.  If  fatigue  of 
body  or  brain  were  in  every  case  followed  by 
desistance;  if  the  oppression  produced  by  a 
close  atmosphere  always  led  to  ventilation; 
if  there  were  no  eating  without  hunger,  or 
drinking  without  thirst ; then  would  the  sys- 
tem be  but  seldom  out  of  working  order.  But 
so  profound  an  ignorance  is  there  of  the  laws 
of  life,  that  men  do  not  even  know  that  their 
sensations  are  their  natural  guides,  and  (when 
not  rendered  morbid  by  long-continued  diso- 
bedience) their  trustworthy  guides.  So  that 
though,  to  speak  teleologically,  Nature  has 
provided  efficient  safeguards  to  health,  lack 
of  knowledge  makes  them  in  a great  measure 
useless. 

If  any  one  doubts  the  importance  of  an  ac- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH . 25 


quaintance  with  the  fundamental  principles 
of  physiology  as  a means  to  complete  living, 
let  him  look  around  and  see  how  many  men 
and  women  he  can  find  in  middle  or  later  life 
who  are  thoroughly  well.  Occasionally  only 
do  we  meet  with  an  example  of  vigorous 
health  continued  to  old  age;  hourly  do  we 
meet  with  examples  of  acute  disorder,  chronic 
ailment,  general  debility,  premature  decrepi- 
tude. Scarcely  is  there  one.  to  whom  you  put 
the  question,  who  has  not,  in  the  course  of 
his  life  brought  upon  himself  illnesses  which  a 
little  knowledge  ^vould  have  saved  him  from. 
Here  is  a case  of  heart  disease  consequent  on 
a rheumatic  fever  that  followed  reckless  ex- 
posure. There  is  a case  of  eyes  spoiled  for  life 
by  overstudy.  Yesterday  the  account  was 
of  one  whose  long-enduring  lameness  was 
brought  on  by  continuing,  spite  of  the  pain, 
to  use  a knee  after  it  had  been  slightly  in- 
jured. And  to-day  we  are  told  of  another 
who  has  had  to  lie  by  for  years,  because  he 
did  not  know  that  the  palpitation  he  suffered 
from  resulted  from  overtaxed  brain.  Now 
we  hear  of  an  irremediable  injury  that  fol- 
lowed some  silly  feat  of  strength  ; and,  again, 
of  a constitution  that  has  never  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  excessive  work  needlessly 
undertaken.  While  on  all  sides  wre  see  the 
perpetual  minor  ailments  which  accompany 
feebleness.  Not  to  dwell  on  the  natural  pain, 
the  weariness,  the  gloom,  the  waste  of  time 
and  money  thus  entailed,  only  consider  how 
greatly  ill-health  hinders  the  discharge  of  all 


26 


EDUCATION. 


duties — makes  business  often  impossible,  and 
always  more  difficult ; produces  an  irritability 
fatal  to  the  right  management  of  children; 
puts  the  functions  of  citizenship  out  of  the 
question ; and  makes  amusement  a bore.  Is 
it  not  clear  that  the  physical  sins — partly  our 
forefathers’  and  partly  our  own — which  pro- 
duce this  ill-health,  deduct  more  from  com- 
plete living  than  anything  else?  and  to  a great 
extent  make  life  a failure  and  a burden  in- 
stead of  a benefaction  and  a pleasure? 

To  all  which  add  the  fact,  that  life,  besides 
being  thus  immensely  deteriorated,  is  also  cut 
short.  It  is  not  true,  as  we  commonly  sup- 
pose, that  a disorder  or  disease  from  which 
we  have  recovered  leaves  us  as  before.  No 
disturbance  of  the  normal  course  of  the  func- 
tions can  pass  away  and  leave  things  exactly 
as  they  were.  In  all  cases  a permanent  dam- 
age is  done — not  immediately  appreciable,  it 
may  be,  but  still  there ; and  along  with  other 
such  items  which  Nature  in  her  strict  account- 
keeping never  drops,  will  tell  against  us  to 
the  inevitable  shortening  of  our  days. 
Through  the  accumulation  of  small  injuries 
it  is  that  constitutions  are  commonly  under- 
mined, and  break  down,  long  before  their 
time.  And  if  we  call  to  mind  how  far  the  av- 
erage duration  of  life  falls  below  the  possible 
duration,  we  see  how  immense  is  the  loss. 
When,  to  the  numerous  partial  deductions 
which  bad  health  entails,  we  add  this  great 
final  deduction,  it  results  that  ordinarily  more 
than  one-half  of  life  is  thrown  away. 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH. 


21 


Hence,  knowledge  which  subserves  direct 
self-preservation  by  preventing  this  loss  of 
health,  is  of  primary  importance.  We  do  not 
contend  that  possession  of  such  knowledge 
would  by  any  means  wholly  remedy  the  evil. 
For  it  is  clear  that  in  our  present  phase  of 
civilization  men’s  necessities  often  compel 
them  to  transgress.  And  it  is  further  clear 
that,  even  in  the  absence  of  such  compulsion, 
their  inclinations  would  frequently  lead  them, 
spite  of  their  knowledge,  to  sacrifice  future 
good  to  present  gratification.  But  we  do  con- 
tend that  the  right  knowledge  impressed  in 
the  right  way  would  effect  much;  and  we 
further  contend  that  as  the  laws  of  health 
must  be  recognized  before  they  can  be  fully 
conformed  to,  the  imparting  of  such  knowl- 
edge must  precede  a more  rational  living — 
come  when  that  may.  We  infer  that  as  vig- 
orous health  and  its  accompanying  high 
spirits  are  larger  elements  of  happiness  than 
any  other  things  whatever,  the  teaching  how 
to  maintain  them  is  a teaching  that  yields  in 
moment  to  no  other  whatever.  And  there- 
fore we  assert  that  such  a course  of  physiol- 
ogy as  is  needful  for  the  comprehension  of  its 
general  truths,  and  their  bearings  on  daily 
conduct,  is  an  all- essential  part  of  a rational 
education. 

Strange  that  the  assertion  should  need  mak- 
ing! Stranger  still  that  it  should  need  de- 
fending ! Yet  are  there  not  a few  by  whom 
such  a proposition  will  be  received  with  some- 
thing approaching  to  derision.  Men  who 


28 


EDUCATION. 


would  blush  if  caught  saying  Iphigenia  in- 
stead of  Iphigenia,  or  would  resent  as  an  in- 
sult any  imputation  of  ignorance  respecting 
the  fabled  labors  of  a fabled  demi-god,  show 
not  the  slightest  shame  in  confessing  that 
they  do  not  know  where  the  Eustachian  tubes 
are,  what  are  the  actions  of  the  spinal  cord, 
what  is  the  normal  rate  of  pulsation,  or  how 
the  lungs  are  inflated.  While  anxious  that 
their  sons  should  be  well  up  in  the  supersti- 
tions of  two  thousand  years  ago,  they  care 
not  that  they  should  be  taught  anything 
about  the  structure  and  functions  of  their  own 
bodies — nay,  would  even  disapprove  such  in- 
struction. So  overwhelming  is  the  influence 
of  established  routine!  So  terribly  in  our 
education  does  the  ornamental  override  the 
useful ! 

We  need  not  insist  on  the  value  of  that 
knowledge  which  aids  indirect  self-preserva- 
tion by  facilitating  the  gaining  of  a livelihood. 
This  is  admitted  by  all;  and,  indeed,  by  the 
mass  is  perhaps  too  exclusively  regarded  as 
the  end  of  education.  But  while  every  one 
is  ready  to  endorse  the  abstract  proposition 
that  instruction  fitting  youths  for  the  business 
of  life  is  of  high  importance,  or  even  to  con- 
sider it  of  supreme  importance ; yet  scarcely 
any  inquire  what  instruction  will  so  fit  them. 
It  is  true  that  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic 
are  taught  with  an  intelligent  appreciation  of 
their  uses;  but  when  we  have  said  this  we 
have  said  nearly  all.  While  the  great  bulk 
of  what  else  is  acquired  has  no  bearing  on  the 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  29 


industrial  activities,  an  immensity  of  infor- 
mation that  has  a direct  bearing  on  the  indus- 
trial activities  is  entirely  passed  over. 

For,  leaving  out  only  some  very  small 
classes,  what  are  all  men  employed  in?  They 
are  employed  in  the  production,  preparation, 
and  distribution  of  commodities.  And  on 
what  does  efficiency  in  the  production,  prepa- 
ration, and  distribution  of  commodities  de- 
pend? It  depends  on  the  use  of  methods  fit- 
ted to  the  respective  natures  of  these  com- 
modities ; it  depends  on  an  adequate  knowl- 
edge of  their  physical,  chemical,  or  vital  prop- 
erties, as  the  case  may  be ; that  is,  it  depends 
on  Science.  This  order  of  knowledge,  which 
is  in  great  part  ignored  in  our  school  courses, 
is  the  order  of  knowledge  underlying  the 
right  performance  of  all  those  processes  by 
which  civilized  life  is  made  possible.  Unde- 
niable as  is  this  truth,  and  thrust  upon  us  as 
it  is  at  every  turn,  there  seems  to  be  no  liv- 
ing consciousness  of  it:  its  very  familiarity 
makes  it  unregarded.  To  give  due  weight  to 
our  argument,  we  must,  therefore,  realize  this 
truth  to  the  reader  by  a rapid  review  of  the 
facts. 

For  all  the  higher  arts  of  construction, 
some  acquaintance  with  Mathematics  is  in- 
dispensable. The  village  carpenter,  who, 
lacking  rational  instruction,  lays  out  his 
work  by  empirical  rules  learnt  in  his  appren- 
ticeship, equally  with  the  builder  of  a Bri- 
tannia Bridge,  makes  hourly  reference  to  the 
laws  of  quantitative  relations.  The  surveyor 


30 


EDUCATION. 


on  whose  survey  the  land  is  purchased;  the 
architect  in  designing  a mansion  to  he  built 
on  it ; the  builder  in  preparing  his  estimates ; 
his  foreman  in  laying  out  the  foundations; 
the  masons  in  cutting  the  stones ; and  the  va- 
rious artisans  who  put  up  the  fittings ; are  all 
guided  by  geometrical  truths.  Railway-mak- 
ing is  regulated  from  beginning  to  end  by 
mathematics : alike  in  the  preparation  of 
plans  and  sections;  in  staking  out  the  line; 
in  the  mensuration  of  cuttings  and  embank- 
ments; in  the  designing,  estimating,  and 
building  of  bridges,  culverts,  viaducts,  tun- 
nels, stations.  And  similarly  with  the  har- 
bors, docks,  piers,  and  various  engineering 
and  architectural  works  that  fringe  the 
coasts  and  overspread  the  face  of  the  coun- 
try; as  well  as  the  mines  that  run  under- 
neath it.  Out  of  geometry,  too,  as  applied  to 
astronomy,  the  art  of  navigation  has  grown ; 
and  so,  by  this  science,  has  been  made  possi- 
ble that  enormous  foreign  commerce  which 
supports  a large  part  of  our  population,  and 
supplies  us  with  many  necessaries  and  most 
of  our  luxuries.  And  now-a-days  even  the 
farmer,  for  the  correct  laying  out  of  his 
drains,  has  recourse  to  the  level — that  is,  to 
geometrical  principles.  When  from  those  di- 
visions of  mathematics  which  deal  with  space , 
and  number , some  small  smattering  of  which 
is  given  in  schools,  we  turn  to  that  other  di- 
vision which  deals  with  force , of  which  even 
a smattering  is  scarcely  ever  given,  we  meet 
with  another  large  class  of  activities  which 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  31 

this  science  presides  over.  On  the  applica- 
tion of  rational  mechanics  depends  the  suc- 
cess of  nearly  all  modern  manufacture.  The 
properties  of  the  lever,  the  wheel  and  axle, 
etc.,  are  involved  in  every  machine — every 
machine  is  a solidified  mechanical  theorem; 
and  to  machinery  in  these  times  we  owe 
nearly  all  production.  Trace  the  history  of 
the  breakfast-roll.  The  soil  out  of  which  it 
came  was  drained  with  machine-made  tiles; 
the  surface  was  turned  over  by  a machine.; 
the  seed  was  put  in  by  a machine ; the  wheat 
was  reaped,  thrashed,  and  winnowed  by  ma- 
chines ; by  machinery  it  was  ground  and  bolt- 
ed; and  had  the  flour  been  sent  to  Gosport, 
it  might  have  been  made  into  biscuits  by  a 
machine.  Look  round  the  room  in  which 
you  sit.  If  modern,  probably  the  bricks  in 
its  walls  were  machine-made ; by  machinery 
the  flooring  was  sawn  and  planed,  the  mantel- 
shelf sawn  and  polished,  the  paper-hangings 
made  and  printed;  the  veneer  on  the  table, 
the  turned  legs  of  the  chairs,  the  carpet,  the 
curtains,  are  all  products  of  machinery.  And 
your  clothing — plain,  figured,  or  printed — is 
it  not  wholly  woven,  nay,  perhaps  even 
sewed  by  machinery?  And  the  volume  you 
are  reading — are  not  its  leaves  fabricated  by 
one  machine  and  covered  with  these  words 
by  another?  Add  to  which  that  for  the 
means  of  distribution  over  both  land  and  sea, 
we  are  similarly  indebted.  And  then  let  it  be 
remembered  that  according  as  the  principles 
of  mechanics  are  well  or  ill  used  to  these  ends, 


32 


EDUCATION. 


comes  success  or  failure— individual  and  na- 
tional. The  engineer  who  misapplies  his  for- 
mulae for  the  strength  of  materials,  builds  a 
bridge  that  breaks  down.  The  manufact- 
urer whose  apparatus  is  badly  devised,  cannot 
compete  with  another  whose  apparatus  wastes 
less  in  friction  and  inertia.  The  ship-builder 
adhering  to  the  old  model,  is  outsailed  by  one 
who  builds  on  the  mechanically-justined  wave- 
line principle.  And  as  the  ability  of  a nation 
to  hold  its  own  against  other  nations  depends 
on  the  skilled  activity  of  its  units,  we  see  that 
on  such  knowledge  may  turn  the  national 
fate.  Judge  then  the  worth  of  mathematics. 

Pass  next  to  Physics.  Joined  with  mathe- 
matics, it  has  given  us  the  steam-engine, 
which  does  the  work  of  millions  of  laborers. 
That  section  of  physics  which  deals  with  the 
laws  of  heat,  has  taught  us  how  to  economize 
fuel  in  our  various  industries;  how  to  in- 
crease the  produce  of  our  smelting  furnaces 
by  substituting  the  hot  for  the  cold  blast; 
how  to  ventilate  our  mines ; how  to  prevent 
explosions  by  using  the  safety-lamp;  and, 
through  the  thermometer,  how  to  regulate  in- 
numerable processes.  That  division  which 
has  the  phenomena  of  light  for  its  subject, 
gives  eyes  to  the  old  and  the  myopic;  aids 
through  the  microscope  in  detecting  diseases 
and  adulterations;  and  by  improved  light- 
houses prevents  shipwrecks.  Researches  in 
electricity  and  magnetism  have  saved  incal- 
culable life  and  property  by  the  compass; 
have  subserved  sundry  arts  by  the  electro- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  33 


type;  and  now,  in  the  telegraph,  have  sup- 
plied us  with  the  agency  by  which  for  the  fu- 
ture all  mercantile  transactions  will  be  regu- 
lated, political  intercourse  carried  on,  and  , 
perhaps  national  quarrels  often  avoided. 
While  in  the  details  of  indoor  life,  from  the 
improved  kitchen-range  up  to  the  stereoscope 
on  the  drawing-room  table,  the  applications 
of  advanced  physics  underlie  our  comforts 
and  gratifications. 

Still  more  numerous  are  the  bearings  of 
Chemistry  on  those  activities  by  which  men 
obtain  the  means  of  living.  The  bleacher, 
the  dyer,  the  calico-printer,  are  severally  oc- 
cupied in  processes  that  are  well  or  ill  done 
according  as  they  do  or  do  not  conform  to 
chemical  laws.  The  economical  reduction 
from  their  ores  of  copper,  tin,  zinc,  lead,  sil- 
ver, iron,  are  in  a great  measure  questions  of 
chemistry.  Sugar-refining,  gas-making,  soap- 
boiling, gunpowder  manufacture,  are  opera- 
tions all  partly  chemical;  as  are  also  those 
by  which  are  produced  glass  and  porcelain. 
Whether  the  distiller’s  wort  stops  at  the  al- 
coholic fermentation  or  passes  into  the  ace- 
tous, is  a chemical  question  on  which  hangs 
his  profit  or  loss  and  the  brewer,  if  his  busi- 
ness is  sufficiently  large,  finds  it  pay  to  keep 
a chemist  on  his  premises.  Glance  through  a 
work  on  technology,  and  it  becomes  at  once 
apparent  that  there  is  now  scarcely  any  proc- 
ess in  the  arts  or  manufactures  over  some 
part  of  which  chemistry  does  not  preside. 
And  then,  lastly,  we  come  to  the  fact  that  in 
3 


34 


EDUCATION . 


these  times,  agriculture,  to  be  profitably  car- 
ried on,  must  have  like  guidance.  The  analy- 
sis of  manures  and  soils ; their  adaptations  to 
each  other ; the  use  of  gypsum  or  other  sub- 
stance for  fixing  ammonia ; the  utilization  of 
coprolites;  the  production  of  artificial  ma- 
nures -all  these  are  boons  of  chemistry  which 
it  behoves  the  farmer  to*  acquaint  himself 
with.  Be  it  in  the  lucifer  match,  or  in  disin- 
fected sewage,  or  in  photographs — in  bread 
made  without  fermentation,  or  perfumes  ex- 
tracted from  refuse,  we  may  perceive  that 
chemistry  affects  all  our  industries ; and  that, 
by  consequence,  knowledge  of  it  concerns 
every  one  who  is  directly  or  indirectly  con- 
nected with  our  industries. 

And  then  the  science  of  life — Biology : does 
not  this,  too,  bear  fundamentally  upon  these 
processes  of  indirect  self-preservation?  With 
what  we  ordinarily  call  manufactures,  it  has, 
indeed,  little  connection ; but  with  the  all-es- 
sential manufacture — that  of  food — it  is  insep- 
arably connected.  As  agriculture  must  con- 
form its  methods  to  the  phenomena  of  vegeta- 
ble and  animal  life,  it  follows  necessarily 
that  the  science  of  these  phenomena  is  the  ra- 
tional basis  of  agriculture.  Y arious  biological 
truths  have  indeed  been  empirically  estab- 
lished and  acted  upon  by  farmers  while  yet 
there  has  been  no  conception  of  them  as  sci- 
ence: such  as  that  particular  manures  are 
suited  to  particular  plants ; that  crops  of  cer- 
tain kinds  unfit  the  soil  for  other  crops ; that 
horses  cannot  do  good  work  on  poor  food; 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH. 


35 


that  such  and  such  diseases  of  cattle  and 
sheep  are  caused  by  such  and  such  conditions. 
These,  and  the  every-day  knowledge  which  the 
agriculturist  gains  by  experience  respecting 
the  right  management  of  plants  and  animals, 
constitute  his  stock  of  biological  facts ; on  the 
largeness  of  which  greatly  depends  his  suc- 
cess. And  as  these  biological  facts,  scanty,  in- 
definite, rudimentary,  though  they  are,  aid 
him  so  essentially ; judge  what  must  be  the 
value  to  him  of  such  facts  when  they  become 
positive,  definite,  and  exhaustive.  Indeed, 
even  now  we  may  see  the  benefits  that  ra- 
tional biology  is  conferring  on  him.  The 
truth  that  the  production  of  animal  heat 
implies  waste  of  substance,  and  that,  there- 
fore, preventing  loss  of  heat  prevents  the  need 
for  extra  food — a purely  theoretical  conclu- 
sion— now  guides  the  fattening  of  cattle : it  is 
found  that  by  keeping  cattle  warm,  fodder  is 
saved.  Similarly  with  respect  to  variety  of 
food.  The  experiments  of  physiologists  have 
shown  that  not  only  is  change  of  diet  benefi- 
cial, but  that  digestion  is  facilitated  by  a mixt- 
ure of  ingredients  in  each  meal : both  which 
truths  are  now  influencing  cattle -feeding.  The 
discovery  that  a disorder  known  as  “ the  stag- 
gers,” of  which  many  thousands  of  sheep  have 
died  annually,  is  caused  by  an  entozoon 
which  presses  on  the  brain ; and  that  if  the 
creature  is  extracted  through  the  softened 
place  in  the  skull  which  marks  its  position,  the 
sheep  usually  recovers ; is  another  debt  which 
agriculture  owes  to  biology.  When  we  ob- 


36 


EDUCATION. 


serve  the  marked  contrast  between  our  farm- 
ing and  farming  on  the  Continent,  and  remem- 
ber that  this  contrast  is  mainly  due  to  the  far 
greater  influence  science  has  had  upon  farm- 
ing here  than  there ; and  when  we  see  how, 
daily,  competition  is  making  the  adoption  of 
scientific  methods  more  general  and  necessary ; 
we  shall  rightly  infer  that  very  soon,  agricult- 
ural success  in  England  will  be  impossible 
without  a competent  knowledge  of  animal  and 
vegetable  physiology. 

Yet  one  more  science  have  we  to  note  as 
bearing  directly  on  industrial  success — the 
Science  of  Society.  Without  knowing  it,  men 
who  daily  look  at  the  state  of  the  money-mar- 
ket, glance  over  prices  current,  discuss  the 
probable  crops  of  corn,  cotton,  sugar,  wool, 
silk,  weigh  the  chances  of  war,  and  from  all 
those  data  decide  on  their  mercantile  opera- 
tions, are  students  of  social  science : empirical 
and  blundering  students  it  may  be ; but  still, 
students  who  gain  the  prizes  or  are  plucked  of 
their  profits,  according  as  they  do  or  do  not 
reach  the  right  conclusion.  Not  only  the 
manufacturer  and  the  merchant  must  guide 
their  transactions  by  calculations  of  supply 
and  demand,  based  on  numerous  facts,  and 
tacitly  recognizing  sundry  general  principles 
of  social  action ; but  even  the  retailer  must  do 
the  like : his  prosperity  very  greatly  depend- 
ing upon  the  correctness  of  his  judgments  re- 
specting the  future  wholesale  prices  and  the 
future  rates  of  consumption.  Manifestly,  all 
who  take  part  in  the  entangled  commercial  ac- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  37 


tivities  of  a community,  are  vitally  interested 
in  understanding  the  laws  according  to  which 
those  activities  vary. 

Thus,  to  all  such  as  are  occupied  in  the  pro- 
duction, exchange,  or  distribution  of  commod- 
ities, acquaintance  with  science  in  some  of  its 
departments,  is  of  fundamental  importance. 
Whoever  is  immediately  or  remotely  impli- 
cated in  any  form  of  industry  (and  few  are 
not)  has  a direct  interest  in  understanding 
something  of  the  mathematical,  physical,  and 
chemical  properties  of  things ; perhaps,  also, 
has  a direct  interest  in  biology ; and  certainly 
has  in  sociology.  Whether  he  does  or  does 
not  succeed  well  in  that  indirect  self-preserva- 
tion which  we  call  getting  a good  livelihood, 
depends  in  a great  degree  on  his  knowledge 
of  one  or  more  of  these  sciences : not,  it  may 
be,  a rational  knowledge ; but  still  a knowl- 
edge, though  empirical.  For  what  we  call 
learning  a business,  really  implies  learning 
the  science  involved  in  it ; though  not  perhaps 
under  the  name  of  science.  And  hence  a 
grounding  in  science  is  of  great  importance, 
both  because  it  prepares  for  all  this,  and  be- 
cause rational  knowledge  has  an  immense  su- 
periority over  empirical  knowledge.  More- 
over, not  only  is  it  that  scientific  culture  is 
requisite  for  each,  that  he  may  understand 
the  how  and  the  why  of  the  things  and  proc- 
esses with  which  he  is  concerned  as  maker 
or  distributor;  hut  it  is  often  of  much  mo- 
ment that  he  should  understand  the  how  and 
the  why  of  various  other  things  and  processes. 


38 


EDUCATION. 


In  this  age  of  joint-stock  undertakings,  nearly 
every  man  above  the  laborer  is  interested  as 
capitalist  in  some  other  occupation  than  his 
own;  and,  as  thus  interested,  his  profit  or 
loss  often  depends  on  his  knowledge  of  the 
sciences  bearing  on  this  other  occupation. 
Here  is  a mine,  in  the  sinking  of  which  many 
shareholders  ruined  themselves,  from  not 
knowing  that  a certain  fossil  belonged  to  the 
old  red  sandstone,  below  which  no  coal  is 
found.  Not  many  years  ago,  20,000Z.  was  lost 
in  the  prosecution  of  a scheme  for  collecting 
the  alcohol  that  distils  from  bread  in  baking: 
all  which  would  have  been  saved  to  the  sub- 
scribers, had  they  known  that  less  than  a hun- 
dredth part  by  weight  of  the  flour  is  changed 
in  fermentation.  Numerous  attempts  have 
been  made  to  construct  electro-magnetic  en- 
gines, in  the  hope  of  superseding  steam;  but 
had  those  who  supplied  the  money,  under- 
stood the  general  law  of  the  correlation  and 
equivalence  of  forces,  they  might  have  had 
better  balances  at  their  bankers.  Daily  are 
men  induced  to  aid  in  carrying  out  inventions 
which  a mere  tyro  in  science  could  show  to 
be  futile.  Scarcely  a locality  but  has  its  his- 
tory of  fortunes  thrown  away  over  some  im- 
possible project. 

And  if  already  the  loss  from  want  of  sci- 
ence is  so  frequent  and  so  great,  still  greater 
and  more  frequent  will  it  be  to  those  who 
hereafter  lack  science.  Just  as  fast  as  pro- 
ductive processes  become  more  scientific, 
which  competition  will  inevitably  make  them 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  39 


do ; and  just  as  fast  as  joint-stock  undertak- 
ings spread,  which  they  certainly  will;  so 
fast  will  scientific  knowledge  grow  necessary 
to  every  one. 

That  which  our  school  courses  leave  almost 
entirely  out,  we  thus  find  to  he  that  which 
most  nearly  concerns  the  business  of  life.  All 
our  industries  would  cease,  were  it  not  for 
that  information  which  men  begin  to  acquire 
as  they  best  may  after  their  education  is  said 
to  he  finished.  And  were  it  not  for  this  in- 
formation, that  has  been  from  age  to  age  ac- 
cumulated and  spread  by  unofficial  means, 
these  industries  would  never  have  existed. 
Had  there  been  no  teaching  hut  such  as  is 
given  in  our  public  schools,  England  would 
now  he  what  it  was  in  feudal  times.  That  in- 
creasing acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  phe- 
nomena which  has  through  successive  ages 
enabled  us  to  subjugate  Nature  to  our  needs, 
and  in  these  days  gives  the  common  laborer 
comforts  which  a few  centuries  ago  kings 
could  not  purchase,  is  scarcely  in  any  degree 
owed  to  the  appointed  means  of  instructing 
our  youth.  The  vital  knowledge — that  by 
which  we  have  grown  as  a nation  to  what  we 
are,  and  which  now  underlies  our  whole  ex- 
istence, is  a knowledge  that  has  got  itself 
taught  in  nooks  and  corners;  while  the  or- 
dained agencies  for  teaching  have  been 
mumbling  little  else  but  dead  formulas. 

We  come  now  to  the  third  great  division  of 
human  activities — a division  for  which  no 


40 


EDUCATION . 


preparation  whatever  is  made.  If  by  some 
strange  chance  not  a vestige  of  us  descended 
to  the  remote  future  save  a pile  of  our  school- 
books or  some  college  examination  papers,  we 
may  imagine  how  puzzled  an  antiquary  of 
the  period  would  be  on  finding  in  them  no  in- 
dication that  the  learners  were  ever  likely  to 
be  parents.  “This  must  have  been  the  cur' 
riculum  for  their  celibates,”  we  may  fancy 
him  concluding.  “I  perceive  here  an  elabo- 
rate preparation  for  many  things : especially 
for  reading  the  books  of  extinct  nations  and 
of  co-existing  nations  (from  which  indeed  it 
seems  clear  that  these  people  had  very  little 
worth  reading  in  their  own  tongue) ; but  I 
find  no  reference  whatever  to  the  bringing  up 
of  children.  They  could  not  have  been  so 
absurd  as  to  omit  all  training  for  this  gravest 
of  responsibilities.  Evidently  then,  this  was 
the  school  course  of  one  of  their  monastic  or- 
ders.” 

Seriously,  is  it  not  an  astonishing  fact,  that 
though  on  the  treatment  of  offspring  depend 
their  lives  or  deaths,  and  their  moral  welfare 
or  ruin ; yet  not  one  word  of  instruction  on 
the  treatment  of  offspring  is  ever  given  to 
those  who  will  hereafter  be  parents?  Is  it  not 
monstrous  that  the  fate  of  a new  generation 
should  be  left  to  the  chances  of  unreasoning 
custom,  impulse,  fancy — joined  with  the  sug- 
gestions of  ignorant  nurses  and  the  preju- 
diced counsel  of  grandmothers?  If  a mer- 
chant commenced  business  without  any 
knowledge  of  arithmetic  and  book-keeping, 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOE  TIL  41 


we  should  exclaim  at  his  folly,  and  look  for 
disastrous  consequences.  Or  if,  before  study- 
ing anatomy,  a man  set  up  as  a surgical  op- 
erator, we  should  wonder  at  his  audacity  and 
pity  his  patients.  But  that  parents  should 
begin  the  difficult  task  of  rearing  children 
without  ever  having  given  a thought  to  the 
principles — physical,  moral,  or  intellectual — 
which  ought  to  guide  them,  excites  neither 
surprise  at  the  actors  nor  pity  for  their  vic- 
tims. 

To  tens  of  thousands  that  are  killed,  add 
hundreds  of  thousands  that  survive  with  fee- 
ble constitutions,  and  millions  that  grow  up 
with  constitutions  not  so  strong  as  they 
should  be ; and  you  will  have  some  idea  of  the 
curse  inflicted  on  their  offspring  by  parents 
ignorant  of  the  laws  of  life.  Do  but  consider 
for  a moment  that  the  regimen  to  which 
children  are  subject  is  hourly  telling  upon 
them  to  their  life-long  injury  or  benefit ; and 
that  there  are  twenty  ways  of  going  wrong  to 
one  way  of  going  right ; and  you  will  get 
some  idea  of  the  enormous  mischief  that  is 
almost  everywhere  inflicted  by  the  thought- 
less, haphazard  system  in  common  use.  Is  it 
decided  that  a boy  shall  be  clothed  in  some 
flimsy  short  dress,  and  be  allowed  to  go  play- 
ing about  with  limbs  reddened  by  cold  ? The 
decision  will  tell  on  his  whole  future  existence 
— either  in  illnesses;  or  in  stunted  growth; 
or  in  deficient  energy ; or  in  a maturity  less 
vigorous  than  it  ought  to  have  been,  and  con- 
sequent hindrances  to  success  and  happiness. 


42 


EDUCATION. 


Are  children  doomed  to  a monotonous  diet- 
ary, or  a dietary  that  is  deficient  in  nutri- 
tiveness? Their  ultimate  physical  power  and 
their  efficiency  as  men  and  women,  will  inev- 
itably be  more  or  less  diminished  by  it  Are 
they  forbidden  vociferous  play,  or  (being  too 
ill-clothed  to  bear  exposure),  are  they  kept 
in-doors  in  cold  weather?  They  are  certain 
to  fall  below  that  measure  of  health  and 
strength  to  which  they  would  else  have  at- 
tained. When  sons  and  daughters  grow  up 
sickly  and  feeble,  parents  commonly  regard 
the  event  as  a misfortune — as  a visitation  of 
Providence.  Thinking  after  the  prevalent 
chaotic  fashion,  they  assume  that  these  evils 
come  without  causes ; or  that  the  causes  are 
supernatural.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  In  some 
cases  the  causes  are  doubtless  inherited;  but 
in  most  cases  foolish  regulations  are  the 
causes.  Very  generally  parents  themselves 
are  responsible  for  all  this  pain,  this  debility, 
this  depression,  this  misery.  They  have  un- 
dertaken to  control  the  lives  of  their  offspring 
from  hour  to  hour;  with  cruel  carelessness 
they  have  neglected  to  learn  anything  about 
these  vital  processes  which  they  are  unceas- 
ingly affecting  by  their  commands  and  pro- 
hibitions; in  utter  ignorance  of  the  simplest 
physiologic  laws,  they  have  been  year  by 
year  undermining  the  constitutions  of  their 
children;  and  have  so  inflicted  disease  and 
premature  death,  not  only  on  them  but  on 
their  descendants. 

Equally  great  are  the  ignorance  and  the 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  43 


consequent  injury,  when  we  turn  from  phys- 
ical training  to  moral  training.  Consider  the 
young  mother  and  her  nursery  legislation. 
But  a few  years  ago  she  was  at  school,  where 
her  memory  was  crammed  with  words,  and 
names,  and  dates,  and  her  reflective  faculties 
scarcely  in  the  slightest  degree  exercised — 
where  not  one  idea  was  given  her  respecting^ 
the  methods  of  dealing  with  the  opening  mind 
of  childhood ; and  where  her  discipline  did  not 
in  the  least  fit  her  for  thinking  out  methods 
of  her  own.  The  intervening  years  have  been 
passed  in  practising  music,  in  fancy-work,  in 
novel-reading,  and  in  party -going : no  thought 
having  yet  been  given  to  the  grave  responsi- 
bilities of  maternity;  and  scarcely  any  of 
that  solid  intellectual  culture  obtained  which 
would  be  some  preparation  for  such  responsi- 
bilities. And  now  see  her  with  an  unfolding 
human  character  committed  to  her  charge — 
see  her  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  phenomena 
with  which  she  has  to  deal,  undertaking  to 
do  that  which  can  be  done  but  imperfectly 
even  with  the  aid  of  the  profoundest  knowl- 
edge. She  knows  nothing  about  the  nature 
of  the  emotions,  their  order  of  evolution, 
their  functions,  or  where  use  ends  and  abuse 
begins.  She  is  under  the  impression  that 
some  of  the  feelings  are  wholly  bad,  which  is 
not  true  of  any  one  of  them ; and  that  others 
are  good,  however  far  they  may  be  carried, 
which  is  also  not  true  of  any  one  of  them. 
And  then,  ignorant  as  she  is  of  that  with 
which  she  has  to  deal,  she  is  equally  ignorant 


44 


EDUCATION . 


of  the  effects  that  will  be  produced  on  it  by 
this  or  that  treatment.  What  can  be  more 
inevitable  than  the  disastrous  results  we  see 
hourly  arising?  Lacking  knowledge  of  men- 
tal phenomena,  with  their  causes  and  conse- 
quences, her  interference  is  frequently  more 
mischievous  than  absolute  passivity  would 
have  been.  This  and  that  kind  of  action, 
which  are  quite  normal  and  beneficial,  she 
perpetually  thwarts;  and  so  diminishes  the 
child’s  happiness  and  profit,  injures  its  tem- 
per and  her  own,  and  produces  estrangement. 
Deeds  which  she  thinks  it  desirable  to  en- 
courage, she  gets  performed  by  threats  and 
bribes,  or  by  exciting  a desire  for  applause: 
considering  little  what  the  inward  motive 
may  be,  so  long  as  the  outward  conduct 
conforms;  and  thus  cultivating  hypocrisy, 
and  fear,  and  selfishness,  in  place  of 
good  feeling.  While  insisting  on  truthful- 
ness, she  constantly  sets  an  example  of  un- 
truth, by  threatening  penalties  which  she 
does  not  inflict.  While  inculcating  self-con- 
trol, she  hourly  visits  on  her  little  ones  angry 
scoldings  for  acts  that  do  not  call  for  them. 
She  has  not  the  remotest  idea  that  in  the 
nursery,  as  in  the  w~orld,  that  alone  is  the 
truly  salutary  discipline  which  visits  on  all 
conduct,  good  and  bad,  the  natural  conse- 
quences— the  consequences,  pleasurable  or 
painful,  which  in  the  nature  of  things  such 
conduct  tends  to  bring.  Being  thus  without 
theoretic  guidance,  and  quite  incapable  of 
guiding  herself  by  tracing  the  mental  proc- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  45 


esses  going  on  in  her  children,  her  rule  is  im- 
pulsive, inconsistent,  mischievous,  often,  in 
the  highest  degree ; and  would  indeed  be  gen- 
erally ruinous,  were  it  not  that  the  over- 
whelming tendency  of  the  growing  mind  to 
assume  the  moral  type  of  the  race,  usually 
subordinates  all  minor  influences. 

And  then  the  culture  of  the  intellect — is  not 
this,  too,  mismanaged  in  a similar  manner? 
Grant  that  the  phenomena  of  intelligence 
conform  to  laws ; grant  that  the  evolution  of 
intelligence  in  a child  also  conforms  to  laws ; 
and  it  follows  inevitably  that  education  can 
be  rightly  guided  only  by  a knowledge  of 
these  laws.  To  suppose  that  you  can  prop- 
erly regulate  this  process  of  forming  and  ac- 
cumulating ideas,  without  understanding  the 
nature  of  the  process,  is  absurd.  How  widely, 
then,  must  teaching  as  it  is,  differ  from  teach- 
ing as  it  should  be ; when  hardly  any  parents, 
and  but  few  teachers,  know  anything  about 
psychology.  As  might  be  expected,  the  sys- 
tem is  grievously  at  fault,  alike  in  matter  and 
in  manner.  While  the  right  class  of  facts  is 
withheld,  the  wrong  class  is  forcibly  admin- 
istered in  the  wrong  way  and  in  the  wrong 
order.  With  that  common  limited  idea  of 
education  which  confines  it  to  knowledge 
gained  from  books,  parents  thrust  primers 
into  the  hands  of  their  little  ones  years  too 
soon,  to  their  great  injury.  Not  recognizing 
the  truth  that  the  function  of  books  is  sup- 
plementary—that  they  form  an  indirect 
means  to  knowledge  when  direct  means  fail 


46 


EDUCATION. 


— a means  of  seeing  through  other  men  what 
you  cannot  see  for  yourself;  they  are  eager 
to  give  second-hand  facts  in  place  of  first- 
hand facts.  Not  perceiving  the  enormous 
value  of  that  spontaneous  education  which 
goes  on  in  early  years — not  perceiving  that  a 
child’s  restless  observation,  instead  of  being 
ignored  or  checked,  should  be  diligently  ad- 
ministered to,  and  made  as  accurate  and  com- 
plete as  possible ; they  insist  on  occupying  its 
eyes  and  thoughts  with  things  that  are,  for 
the  time  being,  incomprehensible  and  repug- 
nant. Possessed  by  a superstition  which 
worships  the  symbols  of  knowledge  instead 
of  the  knowledge  itself,  they  do  not  see  that 
only  when  his  acquaintance  with  the  objects 
and  processes  of  the  household,  the  streets, 
and  the  fields,  is  becoming  tolerably  exhaust- 
ive— only  then  should  a child  be  introduced 
to  the  new  sources  of  information  which 
books  supply:  and  this,  not  only  because 
immediate  cognition  is  of  far  greater  value 
than  mediate  cognition ; but  also,  because  the 
words  contained  in  books  can  be  rightly  in- 
terpreted into  ideas,  only  in  proportion  to  the 
antecedent  experience  of  things.  Observe 
next,  that  this  formal  instruction,  far  too 
soon  commenced,  is  carried  on  with  but  little 
reference  to  the  laws  of  mental  development. 
Intellectual  progress  is  of  necessity  from  the 
concrete  to  the  abstract.  But  regardless  of 
this,  highly  abstract  subjects,  such  as  gram- 
mar, wrhich  should  come  quite  late,  are  be- 
gun quite  early.  Political  geography,  dead 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH . 47 


and  uninteresting  to  a child,  and  which 
should  be  an  appendage  of  sociological  studies, 
is  commenced  betimes ; while  physical  geog- 
raphy, comprehensible  and  comparatively 
attractive  to  a child,  is  in  great  part  passed 
over.  Nearly  every  subject  dealt  with  is  ar- 
ranged in  abnormal  order:  definitions,  and 
rules,  and  principles  being  put  first,  instead 
of  being  disclosed,  as  they  are  in  the  order  of 
nature,  through  the  study  of  cases.  And 
then,  pervading  the  whole,  is  the  vicious  sys- 
tem of  rote  learning — a system  of  sacrificing 
the  spirit  to  the  letter.  See  the  results. 
What  with  perceptions  unnaturally  dulled  by 
early  thwarting,  and  a coerced  attention  to 
books — what  with  the  mental  confusion  pro- 
duced by  teaching  subjects  before  they  can 
be  understood,  and  in  each  of  them  giving 
generalizations  before  the  facts  of  which  these 
are  the  generalizations — what  with  making  the 
pupil  a mere  passive  recipient  of  other’s  ideas, 
and  not  in  the  least  leading  him  to  be  an  active 
inquirer  or  self-instructor — and  what  with 
taxing  the  faculties  to  excess ; there  are  very 
few  minds  that  become  as  efficient  as  they 
might  be.  Examinations  being  once  passed, 
books  are  laid  aside;  the  greater  part  of 
what  has  been  acquired,  being  unorganized, 
soon  drops  out  of  recollection ; what  remains 
is  mostly  inert — the  art  of  applying  knowl- 
edge not  having  been  cultivated;  and  there 
is  but  little  power  either  of  accurate  observa- 
tion or  independent  thinking.  To  all  which 
add,  that  while  much  of  the  information 


48 


EDUCATION 


gained  is  of  relatively  small  value,  an  im- 
mense mass  of  information  of  transcendent 
value  is  entirely  passed  over. 

Thus  we  find  the  facts  to  be  such  as  might 
have  been  inferred  a priori . The  training  of 
children — physical,  moral,  and  intellectual — 
is  dreadfully  defective.  And  in  great  meas- 
ure it  is  so,  because  parents  are  devoid  of  that 
knowledge  by  which  this  training  can  alone 
be  rightly  guided.  What  is  to  be  expected 
when  one  of  the  most  intricate  of  problems  is 
undertaken  by  those  who  have  given  scarcely 
a thought  to  the  principles  on  which  its  solu- 
tion depends?  For  shoe-making  or  house- 
building, for  the  management  of  a ship  or  a 
locomotive-engine,  a long  apprenticeship  is 
needful.  Is  it,  then,  that  the  unfolding  of  a 
human  being  in  body  and  mind,  is  so  compar- 
atively simple  a process,  that  any  one  may 
superintend  and  regulate  it  with  no  prepara- 
tion whatever?  If  not — if  the  process  is  with 
one  exception  more  complex  than  any  in  Na- 
ture, and  the  task  of  administering  to  it  one 
of  surpassing  difficulty ; is  it  not  madness  to 
make  no  provision  for  such  a task?  Better 
sacrifice  accomplishments  than  omit  this  all- 
essential instruction.  When  a father,  acting 
on  false  dogmas  adopted  without  examination, 
has  alienated  his  sons,  driven  them  into  re- 
bellion by  his  harsh  treatment,  ruined  them, 
and  made  himself  miserable ; he  might  reflect 
that  the  study  of  Ethology  would  have  been 
worth  pursuing,  even  at  the  cost  of  knowing 
nothing  about  JEschylus.  When  a mother  is 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH. 


49 


mourning  over  a first-born  that  has  sunk  un- 
der the  sequelae  of  scarlet-fever — when  per- 
haps a candid  medical  man  has  confirmed  her 
suspicion  that  her  child  would  have  recovered 
had  not  its  system  been  enfeebled  by  over- 
study— when  she  is  prostrate  under  the  pangs 
of  combined  grief  and  remorse;  it  is  but  a 
small  consolation  that  she  can  read  Dante  in 
the  original. 

Thus  we  see  that  for  regulating  the  third 
great  division  of  human  activities,  a knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  life  is  the  one  thing  need- 
ful. Some  acquaintance  with  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  physiology  and  the  elementary  truths 
of  psychology  is  indispensable  for  the  right 
bringing  up  of  children.  We  doubt  not  that 
this  assertion  will  by  many  be  read  with  a 
smile.  That  parents  in  general  should  be  ex- 
pected to  acquire  a knowledge  of  subjects  so 
abstruse,  will  seem  to  them  an  absurdity. 
And  if  we  proposed  that  an  exhaustive  knowl- 
edge of  these  subjects  should  be  obtained  by 
all  fathers  and  mothers,  the  absurdity  would 
indeed  be  glaring  enough.  But  we  do  not. 
General  principles  only,  accompanied  by  such 
detailed  illustrations  as  may  be  needed  to 
make  them  understood,  would  suffice.  And 
these  might  be  readily  taught— if  not  ration- 
ally, then  dogmatically.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
however,  here  are  the  indisputable  facts: — 
that  the  development  of  children  in  mind  and 
body  rigorously  obeys  certain  laws ; that  un- 
less these  laws  are  in  some  degree  conformed 
to  by  parents,  death  is  inevitable ; that  unless 
4 


50 


EDUCATION.. 


they  are  in  a great  degree  conformed  to,  there 
must  result  serious  physical  and  mental  de- 
fects ; and  that  only  when  they  are  completely 
conformed  to,  can  a perfect  maturity  be 
reached.  Judge,  then,  whether  all  who  may 
one  day  be  parents,  should  not  strive  with 
some  anxiety  to  learn  what  these  laws  are. 

From  the  parental  functions  let  us  pass  now 
to  the  functions  of  the  citizen.  We  have  here 
to  inquire  what  knowledge  best  fits  a man  for 
the  discharge  of  these  functions.  It  cannot 
be  alleged,  as  in  the  last  case,  that  the  need 
for  knowledge  fitting  him  for  these  functions 
is  wholly  overlooked ; for  our  school  courses 
contain  certain  studies  which,  nominally  at 
least,  bear  upon  political  and  social  duties. 
Of  these  the  only  one  that  occupies  a promi- 
nent place  is  History. 

But  as  already  more  than  once  hinted,  the 
historic  information  commonly  given  is  al- 
most valueless  for  purposes  of  guidance. 
Scarcely  any  of  the  facts  set  down  in  our 
school-histories,  and  very  few  even  of  those 
contained  in  the  more  elaborate  works  writ- 
ten for  adults,  give  any  clue  to  the  right  prin- 
ciples of  political  action.  The  biographies  of 
monarchs  (and  our  children  commonly  learn 
little  else)  throw  scarcely  any  light  upon  the 
science  of  society.  Familiarity  with  court 
intrigues,  plots,  usurpations,  or  the  like,  and 
with  all  the  personalities  accompanying  them, 
aids  very  little  in  elucidating  the  principles, 
on  which  national  welfare  depends.  We  read 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  51 


of  some  squabble  for  power,  that  it  led  to  a 
pitched  battle ; that  such  and  such  were  the 
names  of  the  generals  and  their  leading  sub- 
ordinates ; that  they  had  each  so  many  thou- 
sand infantry  and  cavalry,  and  so  many  can- 
non ; that  they  arranged  their  forces  in  this 
and  that  order ; that  they  manoeuvred,  at- 
tacked, and  fell  back  in  certain  ways ; that  at 
this  part  of  the  day  such  disasters  were  sus- 
tained and  at  that  such  advantages  gained; 
that  in  one  particular  movement  some  leading 
officer  fell,  while  in  another  a certain  regiment 
was  decimated ; that  after  all  the  changing  fort- 
unes of  the  fight,  the  victory  was  gained  by 
this  or  that  army;  and  that  so  many  were 
killed  and  wounded  on  each  side,  and  so  many 
captured  by  the  conquerors.  And  now,  out 
of  the  accumulated  details  which  make  up 
the  narrative,  say  which  it  is  that  helps  you 
in  deciding  on  your  conduct  as  a citizen. 
Supposing  even  that  you  had  diligently  read, 
not  only  4 ‘ The  Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the 
World,”  but  accounts  of  all  other  battles  that 
history  mentions ; how  much  more  judicious 
would  your  vote  be  at  the  next  election? 
“ But  these  are  facts — interesting  facts,”  jow 
say.  Without  doubt  they  are  facts  (such,  at 
least,  as  are  not  wholly  or  partially  fictions) ; 
and  to  many  they  may  be  interesting  facts. 
But  this  by  no  means  implies  that  they  are 
valuable.  Factitious  or  morbid  opinion  often 
gives  seeming  value  to  things  that  have 
scarcely  any.  A tulipomaniac  will  not  part 
with  a choice  bulb  for  its  weight  in  gold.  To 


52 


EDUCATION . 


another  man  an  ugly  piece  of  cracked  old 
china  seems  his  most  desirable  possession. 
And  there  are  those  who  give  high  prices  for 
the  relics  of  celebrated  murderers.  Will  it 
be  contended  that  these  tastes  are  any  meas- 
ures of  value  in  the  things  that  gratify  them? 
If  not,  then  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  lik- 
ing felt  for  certain  classes  of  historical  facts 
is  no  proof  of  their  worth ; and  that  we  must 
test  their  worth  as  we  test  the  worth  of  other 
facts,  by  asking  to  what  uses  they  are  appli- 
cable. Were  some  one  to  tell  you  that  your 
neighbor’s  cat  kittened  yesterday,  you  would 
say  the  information  was  worthless.  Fact 
though  it  might  be,  you  would  say  it  was  an 
utterly  useless  fact — a fact  that  could  in  no 
way  influence  your  actions  in  life — a fact  that 
would  not  help  you  in  learning  how  to  live 
completely.  Well,  apply  the  same  test  to  the 
great  mass  of  historical  facts,  and  you  will  get 
the  same  results.  They  are  facts  from  which 
no  conclusions  can  be  drawn — unorganizable 
facts ; and  therefore  facts  which  can  be  of  no 
service  in  establishing  principles  of  conduct, 
which  is  the  chief  use  of  facts.  Bead  them, 
if  you  like,  for  amusement ; but  do  not  flatter 
yourself  they  are  instructive. 

That  which  constitutes  History,  properly  so 
called,  is  in  great  part  omitted  from  works 
on  the  subject.  Only  of  late  years  have  his- 
torians commenced  giving  us,  in  any  consid- 
erable quantity,  the  truly  valuable  informa- 
tion. As  in  past  ages  the  king  was  everything 
and  the  people  nothing ; so,  in  past  histories 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  53 


the  doings  of  the  king  fill  the  entire  picture, 
to  which  the  national  life  forms  but  an  ob- 
scure background.  While  only  now,  when 
the  welfare  of  nations  rather  than  of  rulers  is 
becoming  the  dominant  idea,  are  historians 
beginning  to  occupy  themselves  with  the  phe- 
nomena of  social  progress.  That  which  it  real- 
ly concerns  us  to  know,  is  the  natural  history 
of  society.  We  want  all  facts  which  help  us 
to  understand  how  a nation  has  grown  and  or- 
ganized itself.  Among  these,  let  us  of  course 
have  an  account  of  its  government ; with  as 
little  as  may  be  of  gossip  about  the  men  who 
officered  it,  and  as  much  as  possible  about  the 
structure,  principles,  methods,  prejudices, 
corruptions,  etc.,  which  it  exhibited:  and  let 
this  account  not  only  include  the  nature  and 
actions  of  the  central  government,  but  also 
those  of  local  governments,  down  to  their  mi- 
nutest ramifications.  Let  us  of  course  also 
have  a parallel  description  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal government — its  organization,  its  conduct, 
its  power,  its  relations  to  the  State : and  ac- 
companying this,  the  ceremonial,  creed,  and 
religious  ideas — not  only  those  nominally  be- 
lieved, but  those  really  believed  and  acted 
upon.  Let  us  at  the  same  time  be  informed 
of  the  control  exercised  by  class  over  class, 
as  displayed  in  all  social  observances — in  ti- 
tles, salutations,  and  forms  of  address.  Let 
us  know,  too,  what  were  all  the  other  customs 
which  regulated  the  popular  life  out  of  doors 
and  in-doors : including  those  which  concern 
the  relations  of  the  sexes,  and  the  relations  of 


54 


EDUCATION. 


parents  to  children.  The  superstitions,  also, 
from  the  more  important  myths  down  to  the 
charms  in  common  use,  should  he  indicated. 
Next  should  come  a delineation  of  the  indus- 
trial system ; showing  to  what  extent  the  di- 
vision of  labor  was  carried ; how  trades  were 
regulated,  whether  by  caste,  guilds,  or  other- 
wise ; what  was  the  connection  between  em- 
ployers and  employed ; what  were  the  agen- 
cies for  distributing  commodities,  what  were 
the  means  of  communication ; what  was  the 
circulating  medium.  Accompanying  all 
which  should  come  an  account  of  the  indus- 
trial arts  technically  considered : stating  the 
processes  in  use,  and  the  quality  of  the  pro- 
ducts. Further,  the  intellectual  condition  of 
the  nation  in  its  various  grades  should  be  de- 
picted : not  only  with  respect  to  the  kind  and 
amount  of  education,  but  with  respect  to  the 
progress  made  in  science,  and  the  prevailing 
manner  of  thinking.  The  degree  of  aesthetic 
culture,  as  displayed  in  architecture,  sculpt- 
ure, painting,  dress,  music,  poetry,  and  fic- 
tion, should  be  described.  Nor  should  there 
be  omitted  a sketch  of  the  daily  lives  of  the 
people — their  food,  their  homes,  and  their 
amusements.  And  lastly,  to  connect  the 
whole,  should  be  exhibited  the  morals,  theo- 
retical and  practical,  of  all  classes:  as  indi- 
cated in  their  laws,  habits,  proverbs,  deeds. 
All  these  facts,  given  with  as  much  brevity  as 
consists  with  clearness  and  accuracy,  should 
be  so  grouped  and  arranged  that  they  may  be 
comprehended  in  their  ensemble;  and  thus 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOBTIL  55 


may  be  contemplated  as  mutually  dependent 
parts  of  one  great  whole.  The  aim  should  be 
so  to  present  them  that  we  may  readily  trace 
the  consensus  subsisting  among  them;  with 
the  view  of  learning  what  social  phenomena 
co-exist  with  what  others.  And  then  the  cor- 
responding delineations  of  succeeding  ages 
should  be  so  managed  as  to  show  us,  as  clear- 
ly as  may  be,  how  each  belief,  institution, 
custom  and  arrangement  was  modified ; and 
how  the  consensus  of  preceding  structures 
and  functions  was  developed  into  the  consen- 
sus of  succeeding  ones.  Such  alone  is  the 
kind  of  information  respecting  past  times, 
which  can  be  of  service  to  the  citizen  for  the 
regulation  of  his  conduct.  The  only  history 
that  is  of  practical  value,  is  what  may  be 
called  Descriptive  Sociology.  And  the  high- 
est office  which  the  historian  can  discharge, 
is  that  of  so  narrating  the  lives  of  nations,  as 
to  furnish  materials  for  a Comparative  Sociol- 
ogy ; and  for  the  subsequent  determination  of 
the  ultimate  laws  to  which  social  phenomena 
conform. 

But  now  mark,  that  even  supposing  an  ade- 
quate stock  of  this  truly  valuable  historical 
knowledge  has  been  acquired,  it  is  of  compar- 
atively little  use  without  the  key.  And  the 
key  is  to  be  found  only  in  Science.  Without 
an  acquaintance  with  the  general  truths  of  bi- 
ology and  psychology,  rational  interpretation 
of  social  phenomena  is  impossible.  Only  in 
proportion  as  men  obtain  a certain  rude,  em- 
pirical knowledge  of  human  nature,  are  they 


56 


EDUCATION . 


enabled  to  understand  even  the  simplest  facts 
of  social  life : as,  for  instance,  the  relation  be- 
tween supply  and  demand.  And  if  not  even 
the  most  elementary  truths  of  sociology  can 
be  reached  until  some  knowledge  is  obtained 
of  how  men  generally  think,  feel,  and  act  un- 
der given  circumstances ; then  it  is  manifest 
that  there  can  be  nothing  like  a wide  compre- 
hension of  sociology,  unless  through  a com- 
petent knowledge  of  man  in  all  his  faculties, 
bodily  and  mental.  Consider  the  matter  in 
the  abstract,  and  this  conclusion  is  self-evi- 
dent. Thus : — Society  is  made  up  of  individu- 
als ; all  that  is  done  in  society  is  done  by  the 
combined  actions  of  individuals ; and  there- 
fore, in  individual  actions  only  can  be  found 
the  solutions  of  social  phenomena.  But  the 
actions  of  individuals  depend  on  the  laws  of 
their  natures;  and  their  actions  cannot  be 
understood  until  these  laws  are  understood. 
These  laws,  however,  when  reduced  to  their 
simplest  expression,  are  found  to  depend  on 
the  laws  of  body  and  mind  in  general.  Hence 
it  necessarily  follows,  that  biology  and  psy-  1 
chology  are  indispensable  as  interpreters  of  so- 
ciology. Or,  to  state  the  conclusions  still  more 
simply : — all  social  phenomena  are  phenomena 
of  life — are  the  most  complex  manifestations 
of  life — are  ultimately  dependent  on  the  laws 
of  life — and  can  be  understood  only  when  the 
laws  of  life  are  understood.  Thus,  then,  we 
see  that  for  the  regulation  of  this  fourth  divi- 
sion of  human  activities,  we  are,  as  before,  de- 
pendent on  Science.  Of  the  knowledge  com- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH . 57 


monly  imparted  in  educational  courses,  very 
little  is  of  any  service  in  guiding  a man  in  his 
conduct  as  a citizen.  Only  a small  part  of  the 
history  he  reads  is  of  practical  value ; and  of 
this  small  part  he  is  not  prepared  to  make 
proper  use.  He  commonly  lacks  not  only  the 
materials  for,  but  the  very  conception  of,  de- 
scriptive sociology;  and  he  also  lacks  that 
knowledge  of  the  organic  sciences,  without 
which  even  descriptive  sociology  can  give 
him  but  little  aid. 

And  now  we  come  to  that  remaining  divi- 
sion of  human  life  which  includes  the  relaxa- 
tions, pleasures,  and  amusements  filling  leis- 
ure hours.  After  considering  what  training 
best  fits  for  self-preservation,  for  the  obtain- 
ment  of  sustenance,  for  the  discharge  of  pa- 
rental duties,  and  for  the  regulation  of  social 
and  political  conduct ; we  have  now  to  consid- 
er what  training  best  fits  for  the  miscellaneous 
ends  not  included  in  these — for  the  enjoy- 
ments of  Nature,  of  Literature,  and  of  the 
Fine  Arts,  in  all  their  forms.  Postponing 
them  as  we  do  to  things  that  bear  more  vitally 
upon  human  welfare ; and  bringing  every- 
thing, as  we  have,  to  the  test  of  actual  value ; 
it  will  perhaps  be  inferred  that  we  are  inclined 
to  slight  these  less  essential  things.  No  great- 
er mistake  could  be  made,  however.  We 
yield  to  none  in  the  value  we  attach  to  aesthetic 
culture  and  its  pleasures.  Without  painting, 
sculpture,  music,  poetry,  and  the  emotions 
produced  by  natural  beauty  of  every  kind, 


58 


EDUCATION. 


life  would  lose  half  its  charm.  So  far  from 
thinking  that  the  training  and  gratification 
of  the  tastes  are  unimportant,  we  believe  the 
time  will  come  when  they  will  occupy  a much 
larger  share  of  human  life  than  now.  When 
the  forces  of  Nature  have  been  fully  conquered 
to  man’s  use — when  the  means  of  production 
have  been  brought  to  perfection — when  labor 
has  been  economized  to  the  highest  degree — 
when  education  has  been  so  systematized  that 
a preparation  for  the  more  essential  activities 
may  be  made  with  comparative  rapidity — and 
when,  consequently,  there  is  a great  increase 
of  spare  time ; then  will  the  poetry,  both  of 
Art  and  Nature,  rightly  fill  a large  space  in 
the  minds  of  all. 

But  it'  is  one  thing  to  admit  that  aesthetic 
culture  is  in  a high  degree  conducive  to  hu- 
man happiness ; and  another  thing  to  admit 
that  it  is  a fundamental  requisite  to  human 
happiness.  However  important  it  may  be,  it 
must  yield  precedence  to  those  kinds  of  cult- 
ure which  bear  more  directly  upon  the  duties 
of  life.  As  before  hinted,  literature  and  the 
fine  arts  are  made  possible  by  those  activities 
which  make  individual  and  social  life  possi- 
ble ; and  manifestly,  that  which  is  made  possi- 
ble, must  be  postponed  to  that  which  makes 
it  possible.  A florist  cultivates  a plant  for  the 
sake  of  its  flower ; and  regards  the  roots  and 
leaves  as  of  value,  chiefly  because  they  are  in- 
strumental in  producing  the  flower.  But 
while,  as  an  ultimate  product,  the  flower  is 
the  thing  to  which  everything  else  is  subordi- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  59 


nate,  the  florist  very  well  knows  that  the 
root  and  leaves  are  intrinsically  of  greater 
importance ; because  on  them  the  evolution  of 
the  flower  depends.  He  bestows  every  care 
in  rearing  a healthy  plant;  and  knows  it 
would  be  folly  if,  in  his  anxiety  to  obtain  the 
flower,  he  were  to  neglect  the  plant.  Similar- 
ly in  the  case  before  us.  Architecture,  sculpt- 
ure, painting,  music,  poetry,  etc.,  may  be 
truly  called  the  efflorescence  of  civilized  life. 
But  even  supposing  them  to  he  of  such  tran- 
scendent worth  as  to  subordinate  the  civilized 
life  out  of  which  they  grow  (which  can  hardly 
be  asserted),  it  will  still  be  admitted  that  the 
production  of  a healthy  civilized  life  must  be  j 
the  first  consideration;  and  that  the  knowl- 
edge conducing  to  this  must  occupy  the  high- 
est place. 

And  here  we  see  most  distinctly  the  vice  of 
our  educational  system.  It  neglects  the  plant 
for  the  sake  of  the  flower.  In  anxiety  for  ele- 
gance, it  forgets  substance.  While  it  gives 
no  knowledge  conducive  to  self-preservation 
— while  of  knowledge  that  facilitates  gaining 
a livelihood  it  gives  but  the  rudiments,  and 
leaves  the  greater  part  to  be  picked  up  any 
how  in  after  life— while  for  the  discharge  of 
parental  functions  it  makes  not  the  slightest 
provision — and  while  for  the  duties  of  citizen- 
ship it  prepares  by  imparting  a mass  of  facts, 
most  of  which  are  irrelevant,  and  the  rest 
without  a key ; it  is  diligent  in  teaching  every- 
thing that  adds  to  refinement,  polish,  eclat. 
However  fully  we  may  admit  that  extensive 


60 


EDUCATION. 


acquaintance  with  modern  languages  is  a 
valuable  accomplishment,  which,  through 
reading,  conversation,  and  travel,  aids  in 
giving  a certain  finish;  it  by  no  means  fol- 
lows that  this  result  is  rightly  purchased  at 
the  cost  of  that  vitally  important  knowledge 
sacrificed  to  it.  Supposing  it  true  that  classi- 
cal education  conduces  to  elegance  and  cor- 
rectness of  style ; it  cannot  be  said  that  ele- 
gance and  correctness  of  style  are  compara- 
ble in  importance  to  a familiarity  with  the 
principles  that  should  guide  the  rearing  of 
children.  Grant  that  the  taste  may  be  great- 
ly improved  by  reading  all  the  poetry  writ- 
ten in  extinct  languages;  yet  it  is  not  to  be 
inferred  that  such  improvement  of  taste  is 
equivalent  in  value  to  an  acquaintance  with 
the  laws  of  health.  Accomplishments,  the 
fine  arts,  belles-lettres , and  all  those  things 
which,  as  we  say,  constitute  the  efflorescence 
of  civilization,  should  be  wholly  subordinate 
to  that  knowledge  and  discipline  in  which 
civilization  rests.  As  they  occupy  the  leisure 
part  of  life , so  should  they  occupy  the  leisure 
part  of  education. 

Recognizing  thus  the  true  position  of  aes- 
yj  thetics,  and  holding  that  while  the  cultivation 
of  them  should  form  a part  of  education  from 
its  commencement,  such  cultivation  should 
be  subsidiary ; we  have  now  to  inquire  what 
knowledge  is  of  most  use  to  this  end — what 
knowledge  best  fits  for  this  remaining  sphere 
of  activity.  To  this  question  the  answer  is 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOBTH . 61 


still  the  same  as  heretofore.  Unexpected  as 
the  assertion  may  be,  it  is  nevertheless  true, 
that  the  highest  Art  of  every  kind  is  based 
upon  Science — that  without  Science  there  can 
be  neither  perfect  production  nor  full  appre- 
ciation. Science,  in  that  limited  technical 
acceptation  current  in  society,  may  not  have 
been  possessed  by  many  artists  of  high  re- 
pute ; but  acute  observers  as  they  have  been, 
they  have  always  possessed  a stock  of  those 
empirical  generalizations  which  constitute 
science  in  its  lowest  phase ; and  they  have 
habitually  fallen  far  below  perfection,  partly 
because  their  generalizations  were  compara- 
tively few  and  inaccurate.  That  science  nec- 
essarily underlies  the  fine  arts,  becomes  mani- 
fest, a priori , when  we  remember  that  art- 
products  are  all  more  or  less  representative 
of  objective  or  subjective  phenomena;  that 
they  can  be  true  only  in  proportion  as  they 
conform  to  the  laws  of  these  phenomena ; and 
that  before  they  can  thus  conform  the  artist 
must  know  what  these  laws  are.  That  this 
a priori  conclusion  tallies  with  experience 
we  shall  soon  see. 

Youths  preparing  for  the  practice  of  sculpt- 
ure, have  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the 
bones  and  muscles  of  the  human  frame  in 
their  distribution,  attachments,  and  move- 
ments. This  is  a portion  of  science;  and  it 
has  been  found  needful  to  impart  it  for  the 
prevention  of  those  many  errors  which  sculp- 
tors who  do  not  possess  it  commit.  For  the 
prevention  of  other  mistakes,  a knowledge  of 


62 


EDUCATION . 


mechanical  principles  is  requisite;  and  such 
knowledge  not  being  usually  possessed,  grave 
mechanical  mistakes  are  frequently  made. 
Take  an  instance.  For  the  stability  of  a fig- 
,/  ure  it  is  needful  that  the  perpendicular  from 
the  centre  of  gravity — “ the  line  of  direction,” 
as  it  is  called — should  fall  within  the  base  of 
support ; and  hence  it  happens,  that  when  a 
man  assumes  the  attitude  known  as  “stand- 
ing at  ease,”  in  which  one  leg  is  straightened 
and  the  other  relaxed,  the  line  of  direction 
falls  within  the  foot  of  the  straightened  leg. 
But  sculptors  unfamiliar  with  the  theory  of 
equilibrium,  not  uncommonly  so  represent  this 
attitude,  that  the  line  of  direction  fails  mid- 
way between  the  feet.  Ignorance  of  the  laws 
of  momentum  leads  to  analogous  errors : as 
witness  the  admired  Discobolus,  which,  as  it 
is  posed,  must  inevitably  fall  forward  the 
moment  the  quoit  is  delivered. 

In  painting,  the  necessity  for  scientific 
knowledge,  empirical  if  not  rational,  is  still 
more  conspicuous.  In  what  consists  the  gro- 
tesqueness of  Chinese  pictures,  unless  in  their 
utter  disregard  of  the  laws  of  appearances — in 
their  absurd  linear  perspective,  and  their  want 
of  aerial  perspective  ? In  what  are  the  drawings 
of  a child  so  faulty,  if  not  in  a similar  absence 
of  truth — an  absence  arising,  in  great  part, 
from  ignorance  of  the  way  in  which  the  as- 
pects of  things  vary  with  the  conditions?  Do 
but  remember  the  books  and  lectures  by 
wdiich  students  are  instructed;  or  consider 
the  criticisms  of  Buskin ; or  look  at  the  do- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOIiTH.  63 


ings  of  the  Pre-Kaffaelites ; and  you  will  see 
that  progress  in  painting  implies  increasing 
knowledge  of  how  effects  in  Nature  are  pro- 
duced. The  most  diligent  observation,  if  not 
aided  by  science,  fails  to  preserve  from  error. 
Every  painter  will  indorse  the  assertion  that 
unless  it  is  known  what  appearances  must 
exist  under  given  circumstances,  they  often 
will  not  be  perceived ; and  to  know  'what  ap- 
pearances must  exist,  is,  in  so  far,  to  under- 
stand the  science  of  appearances.  From  want 
of  science  Mr.  J.  Lewis,  careful  painter  as  he 
is,  casts  the  shadow  of  a lattice-window  in 
sharply-defined  lines  upon  an  opposite  w’all ; 
which  he  would  not  have  done,  had  he  been 
familiar  with  the  phenomena  of  penumbrse. 
From  want  of  science,  Mr.  Kosetti,  catching 
sight  of  a peculiar  iridescence  displayed  by 
certain  hairy  surfaces  under  particular  lights 
(an  iridescence  caused  by  the  diffraction  of 
light  in  passing  the  hairs),  commits  the  error 
of  showing  this  iridescence  on  surfaces  and 
in  positions  where  it  could  not  occur. 

To  say  that  music,  too,  has  need  of  scientific 
aid  will  seem  still  more  surprising.  Yet  it  is 
demonstrable  that  music  is  but  an  idealization 
of  the  natural  language  of  emotion ; and  that 
consequently,  music  must  be  good  or  bad  ac- 
cording as  it  conforms  to  the  laws  of  this  nat- 
ural language.  The  various  inflections  of 
voice  which  accompany  feelings  of  different 
kinds  and  intensities,  have  been  shown  to  be 
the  germs  out  of  which  music  is  developed. 
It  has  been  further  shown,  that  these  inflec- 


C4 


EDUCATION . 


tions  and  cadences  are  not  accidental  or  arbi- 
trary ; but  that  they  are  determined  by  cer- 
tain general  principles  of  vital  action;  and 
that  their  expressiveness  depends  on  this. 
Whence  it  follows  that  musical  phrases  and 
the  melodies  built  of  them,  can  be  effective 
only  when  they  are  in  harmony  with  these 
general  principles.  It  is  difficult  here  prop- 
erly to  illustrate  this  position.  But  perhaps 
it  will  suffice  to  instance  the  swarms  of  worth- 
less ballads  that  infest  drawing-rooms,  as 
compositions  which  science  would  forbid. 
They  sin  against  science  by  setting  to  music 
ideas  that  are  not  emotional  enough  to  prompt 
musical  expression ; and  they  also  sin  against 
science  by  using  musical  phrases  that  have  no 
natural  relation  to  the  ideas  expressed : even 
where  these  are  emotional.  They  are  bad  be- 
cause they  are  untrue.  And  to  say  they  are 
untrue,  is  to  say  they  are  unscientific. 

Even  in  poetry  the  same  thing  holds.  Like 
music,  poetry  has  its  root  in  those  natural 
modes  of  expression  which  accompany  deep 
feeling.  Its  rhythm,  its  strong  and  numerous 
metaphors,  its  hyperboles,  its  violent  inver- 
sions, are  simply  exaggerations  of  the  traits 
of  excited  speech.  To  be  good,  therefore, 
poetry  must  pay  respect  to  those  laws  of  ner- 
vous action  which  excited  speech  obeys.  In 
intensifying  and  combining  the  traits  of  ex- 
cited speech,  it  must  have  due  regard  to  pro- 
portion— must  not  use  its  appliances  without 
restriction;  but,  where  the  ideas  are  least 
emotional,  must  use  the  forms  of  poetical  ex- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH. 


G5 


pression  sparingly;  must  use  them  more 
freely  as  the  emotion  rises ; and  must  carry 
them  all  to  their  greatest  extent  only  where 
the  emotion  reaches  a climax.  The  entire 
contravention  of  these  principles  results  in 
bombast  or  doggerel.  The  insufficient  respect 
for  them  is  seen  in  didactic  poetry.  And  it 
is  because  they  are  rarely  fully  obeyed,  that 
we  have  so  much  poetry  that  is  inartistic. 

Not  only  is  it  that  the  artist,  of  whatever 
kind,  cannot  produce  a truthful  work  without 
he  understands  the  laws  of  the  phenomena  he 
represents ; but  it  is  that  he  must  also  under- 
stand how  the  minds  of  spectators  or  listeners 
will  be  affected  by  the  several  peculiarities  of 
his  work — a question  in  psychology.  What 
impression  any  given  art-product  generates, 
manifestly  depends  upon  the  mental  natures 
of  those  to  whom  it  is  presented ; and  as  all 
mental  natures  have  certain  general  princi- 
ples in  common,  there  must  result  certain 
corresponding  general  principles  on  which 
alone  art-products  can  be  successfully  framed. 
These  general  principles  cannot  be  fully  un- 
derstood and  applied,  unless  the  artist  sees 
how  they  follow  from  the  laws  of  mind.  To 
ask  whether  the  composition  of  a picture  is 
good,  is  really  to  ask  how  the  perceptions  and 
feelings  of  observers  will  be  affected  by  it. 
To  ask  whether  a drama  is  well  constructed, 
is  to  ask  whether  its  situations  are  so  ar- 
ranged as  duly  to  consult  the  power  of  atten- 
tion of  an  audience,  and  duly  to  avoid  over- 
taxing any  one  class  of  feelings.  Equally  in 


66 


EDUCATION. 


arranging  the  leading  divisions  of  a poem  or 
fiction,  and  in  combining  the  words  of  a sin- 
gle sentence,  the  goodness  of  the  effect  de- 
pends upon  the  skill  with  which  the  mental 
energies  and  susceptibilities  of  the  reader  are 
economized.  Every  artist,  in  the  course  of 
his  education  and  after-life,  accumulates  a 
stock  of  maxims  by  which  his  practice  is  reg- 
ulated. Trace  such  maxims  to  their  roots, 
and  you  find  they  inevitably  lead  you  down 
to  psychological  principles.  And  only  when 
the  artist  rationally  understands  these  psy- 
chological principles  and  their  various  corol- 
laries, can  he  work  in  harmony  with  them. 

We  do  not  for  a moment  believe  that 
science  will  make  an  artist.  While  we  con- 
tend that  the  leading  laws  both  of  objective 
and  subjective  phenomena  must  be  under- 
stood by  him,.  we  by  no  means  contend  that 
knowledge  of  such  laws  will  serve  in  place  of 
natural  perception.  Not  only  the  poet,  but 
also  the  artist  of  every  type,  is  born,  not 
made.  What  we  assert  is,  that  innate  faculty 
alone  will  not  suffice ; but  must  have  the  aid 
of  organized  knowledge.  Intuition  will  do 
much,  but  it  will  not  do  all.  Only  when 
Genius  is  married  to  Science  can  the  highest 
results  be  produced. 

As  we  have  above  asserted,  Science  is  nec- 
essary not  only  for  the  most  successful  pro- 
duction, but  also  for  the  full  appreciation  of 
the  fine  arts.  In  what  consists  the  greater 
ability  of  a man  than  of  a child  to  perceive 
the  beauties  of  a picture ; unless  it  is  in  his 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  67 


more  extended  knowledge  of  those  truths  in 
nature  or  life  which  the  picture  renders? 
How  happens  the  cultivated  gentleman  to  en- 
joy a fine  poem  so  much  more  than  a boor 
does ; if  it  is  not  because  his  wider  acquaint- 
ance with  objects  and  actions  enables  him  to 
see  in  the  poem  much  that  the  boor  cannot 
see?  And  if,  as  is  here  so  obvious,  there 
must  be  some  familiarity  with  the  things  rep- 
resented, before  the  representation  can  be  ap- 
preciated; then  the  representation  can  be 
completely  appreciated,  only  in  proportion  as 
the  things  represented  are  completely  under- 
stood. The  fact  is,  that  every  additional 
truth  which  a work  of  art  expresses,  gives  an 
additional  pleasure  to  the  percipient  mind — a 
pleasure  that  is  missed  by  those  ignorant  of 
this  truth.  The  more  realities  an  artist  indi- 
cates in  any  given  amount  of  work,  the  more 
faculties  does  he  appeal  to ; the  more  numer- 
ous associated  ideas  does  he  suggest ; the  more 
gratification  does  he  afford.  But  to  receive 
this  gratification  the  spectator,  listener,  or 
reader,  must  know  the  realities  which  the 
artist  has  indicated ; and  to  know  these  reali- 
ties is  to  know  so  much  science. 

And  now  let  us  not  overlook  the  further 
great  fact,  that  not  only  does  science  under- 
lie sculpture,  painting,  music,  poetry,  but  that 
science  is  itself  poetic.  The  current  opinion 
that  science  and  poetry  are  opposed  is  a delu- 
sion. It  is  doubtless  true  that  as  states  of 
consciousness,  cognition  and  emotion  tend  to 
exclude  each  other.  And  it  is  doubtless  also 


68 


EDUCATION . 


true  that  an  extreme  activity  of  the  reflective 
powers  tends  to  deaden  the  feelings ; while  an 
extreme  activity  of  the  feelings  tends  to 
deaden  the  reflective  powers ; in  which  sense, 
indeed,  all  orders  of  activity  are  antagonistic 
to  each  other.  But  it  is  not  true  that  the 
facts  of  science  are  unpoetical:  or  that  the 
cultivation  of  science  is  necessarily  unfriendly 
to  the  exercise  of  imagination  or  the  love  of 
the  beautiful.  On  the  contrary  science  opens 
up  realms  of  poetry  where  to  the  unscientific 
all  is  a blank.  Those  engaged  in  scientific 
researches  constantly  show  us  that  they  real- 
ize not  less  vividly,  but  more  vividly,  than 
others,  the  poetry  of  their  subjects.  Who- 
ever will  dip  into  Hugh  Miller’s  works  on  ge- 
ology, or  read  Mr.  Lewes’s  u Seaside  Studies,” 
will  perceive  that  science  excites  poetry  rather 
than  extinguishes  it.  And  whoever  will  con- 
template the  life  of  Goethe  will  see  that  the 
poet  and  the  man  of  science  can  co-exist  in 
equal  activity.  Is  it  not,  indeed,  an  absurd 
and  almost  a sacrilegious  belief  that  the  more 
a man  studies  Nature  the  less  he  reveres  it? 
Think  you  that  a drop  of  water,  which  to  the 
vulgar  eye  is  but  a drop  of  water,  loses  any- 
thing in  the  eye  of  the  physicist  who  knows 
that  its  elements  are  held  together  by  a force 
which,  if  suddenly  liberated,  would  produce 
a flash  of  lightning?  Think  you  that  what 
is  carelessly  looked  upon  by  the  uninitiated 
as  a mere  snow-flake,  does  not  suggest  higher 
associations  to  one  who  has  seen  through  a 
microscope  the  wondrously  varied  and  ele- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOBTJI.  *69 


gant  forms  of  snow-crystals?  Think  you 
that  the  rounded  rock  marked  with  parallel 
scratches  calls  up  as  much  poetry  in  an  igno- 
rant mind  as  in  the  mind  of  a geologist,  who 
knows  that  over  this  rock  a glacier  slid  a mill- 
ion years  ago?  The  truth  is,  that  those  who 
have  never  entered  upon  scientific  pursuits 
know  not  a tithe  of  the  poetry  by  which  they 
are  surrounded.  Whoever  has  not  in  youth 
collected  plants  and  insects,  knows  not  half 
the  halo  of  interest  which  lanes  and  hedge- 
rows can  assume.  Whoever  has  not  sought 
for  fossils,  has  little  idea  of  the  poetical  asso- 
ciations that  surround  the  places  where  im- 
bedded treasures  were  found.  Whoever  at 
the  seaside  has  not  had  a microscope  and 
aquarium,  has  yet  to  learn  what  the  highest 
pleasures  of  the  seaside  are.  Sad,  indeed,  is 
it  to  see  how  men  occupy  themselves  with 
trivialities,  and  are  indifferent  to  the  grand- 
est phenomena — care  not  to  understand  the 
architecture  of  the  Heavens,  but  are  deeply 
interested  in  some  contemptible  controversy 
about  the  intrigues  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots ! 
— are  learnedly  critical  over  a Greek  ode,  and 
pass  by  without  a glance  that  grand  epic 
written  by  the  finger  of  God  upon  the  strata 
of  the  Earth ! 

We  find,  then,  that  even  for  this  remaining 
division  of  human  activities,  scientific  culture 
is  the  proper  preparation.  We  find  that  aes- 
thetics in  general  are  necessarily  based  upon 
scientific  principles ; and  can  be  pursued  with 
complete  success  only  through  an  acquaint- 


70- 


EDUCATION. 


ance  with  these  principles.  We  find  that  for 
the  criticism  and  due  appreciation  of  works 
of  art,  a knowledge  of  the  constitution  of 
things,  or  in  other  words,  a knowledge  of 
science,  is  requisite.  And  we  not  only  find 
that  science  is  the  handmaid  to  all  forms  of 
art  and  poetry,  but  that,  rightly  regarded, 
science  is  itself  poetical. 

Thus  far  our  question  has  been,  the  worth 
of  knowledge  of  this  or  that  kind  for  pur- 
poses of  guidance.  We  have  now  to  judge 
the  relative  values  of  different  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge for  purposes  of  discipline.  This  divi- 
sion of  our  subject  we  are  obliged  to  treat 
with  comparative  brevity;  and  happily,  no 
very  lengthened  treatment  of  it  is  needed. 
Having  found  what  is  best  for  the  one  end, 
we  have  by  implication  found  what  is  best 
for  the  other.  We  maybe  quite  sure  that 
the  acquirement  of  those  classes  of  facts  which 
are  most  useful  for  regulating  conduct,  in- 
volves a mental  exercise  best  fitted  for 
strengthening  the  faculties.  It  would  be  ut- 
terly contrary  to  the  beautiful  economy  of 
Nature,  if  one  kind  of  culture  were  needed 
for  the  gaining  of  information  and  another 
kind  were  needed  as  a mental  gymnastic. 
Everywhere  throughout  creation  we  find  fac- 
ulties developed  through  the  performance  of 
those  functions  which  it  is  their  office  to  per- 
form ; not  through  the  performance  of  artifi- 
cial exercises  devised  to  fit  them  for  these 
functions.  The  Red  Indian  acquires  the  swift- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  71 


ness  and  agility  which  make  him  a successful 
hunter,  by  the  actual  pursuit  of  animals ; and 
by  the  miscellaneous  activities  of  his  life,  he 
gains  a better  balance  of  physical  powers  than 
gymnastics  ever  give.  That  skill  in  tracking 
enemies  and  prey  which  he  has  reached  by 
long  practice,  implies  a subtlety  of  perception 
far  exceeding  anything  produced  by  artificial 
training.  And  similarly  throughout.  From 
the  Bushman,  whose  eye,  which  being  habit- 
ually employed  in  identifying  distant  objects 
that  are  to  be  pursued  or  fled  from,  has  ac- 
quired a quite  telescopic  range,  to  the  account- 
ant whose  daily  practice  enables  him  to  add 
up  several  columns  of  figures  simultaneously, 
we  find  that  the  highest  power  of  a faculty 
results  from  the  discharge  of  those  duties 
which  the  conditions  of  life  require  it  to  dis- 
charge. And  we  may  be  certain,  a priori , 
that  the  same  law  holds  throughout  education. 
The  education  of  most  value  for  guidance, 
must  at  the  same  time  be  the  education  of 
most  value  for  discipline.  Let  us  consider 
the  evidence. 

One  advantage  claimed  for  that  devotion  to 
language-learning  which  forms  so  prominent 
a feature  in  the  ordinary  curriculum , is,  that 
the  memory  is  thereby  strengthened.  And  it 
is  apparently  assumed  that  this  is  an  advan- 
tage peculiar  to  the  study  of  words.  But  the 
truth  is,  that  the  sciences  afford  far  wider 
fields  for  the  exercise  of  memory.  It  is  no 
slight  task  to  remember  all  the  facts  ascer- 
tained respecting  our  solar  system;  much 


72 


EDUCATION . 


more  to  remember  all  that  is  known  concern- 
ing the  structure  of  our  galaxy.  The  new 
compounds  which  chemistry  daily  accumu- 
lates, are  so  numerous  that  few,  save  profes- 
sors, know  the  names  of  them  all ; and  to  rec- 
ollect the  atomic  constitutions  and  affinities 
of  all  these  compounds,  is  scarcely  possible 
without  making  chemistry  the  occupation  of 
life.  In  the  enormous  mass  of  phenomena 
presented  by  the  Earth’s  crust,  and  in  the  still 
more  enormous  mass  of  phenomena  presented 
by  the  fossils  it  contains,  there  is  matter 
which  it  takes  the  geological  student  years  of 
application  to  master.  In  each  leading  divi- 
sion of  physics — sound,  heat,  light,  electricity 
• — the  facts  are  numerous  enough  to  alarm 
any  one  proposing  to  learn  them  all.  And 
when  we  pass  to  the  organic  sciences,  the  ef- 
fort of  memory  required  becomes  still  greater. 
In  human  anatomy  alone,  the  quantity  of  de- 
tail is  so  great,  that  the  young  surgeon  has 
commonly  to  get  it  up  half-a-dozen  times  be- 
fore he  can  permanently  retain  it.  The  num- 
ber of  species  of  plants  which  botanists  dis- 
tinguish, amounts  to  some  320,000  ; while,  the 
varied  forms  of  animal  life  with  which  the 
zoologist  deals,  are  estimated  at  some  two 
millions.  So  vast  is  the  accumulation  of  facts 
which  men  of  science  have  before  them,  that 
only  by  dividing  and  subdividing  their  labors 
can  they  deal  with  it.  To  a complete  knowl- 
edge of  his  own  division,  each  adds  but  a gen- 
eral knowledge  of  the  rest.  Surely,  then,  sci- 
ence, cultivated  even  to  a very  moderate  ex- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOBTII.  7i 


tent,  affords  adequate  exercise  for  memory. 
To  say  the  very  least,  it  involves  quite  as  good 
a training  for  this  faculty  as  language  does. 

But  now  mark  that  while  for  the  training 
of  mere  memory,  science  is  as  good  as,  if  not 
better  than,  language ; it  has  an  immense  su- 
periority in  the  kind  of  memory  it  cultivates. 
In  the  acquirement  of  a language,  the  connec- 
tions of  ideas  to  be  established  in  the  mind  cor- 
respond to  facts  that  are  in  great  measure 
accidental;  whereas,  in  the  acquirement  of 
science,  the  connections  of  ideas  to  be  estab- 
lished in  the  mind  correspond  to  facts  that  are 
mostly  necessary.  It  is  true  that  the  relations 
of  words  to  their  meaning  is  in  one  sense  nat- 
ural, and  that  the  genesis  of  these  relations 
may  be  traced  back  a certain  distance ; though 
very  rarely  to  the  beginning ; (to  which  let  us 
add  the  remark  that  the  laws  of  this  genesis 
form  a branch  of  mental  science — the  science 
of  philology.)  But  since  it  will  not  be  con- 
tended that  in  the  acquisition  of  languages,  as 
ordinarily  carried  on,  these  natural  relations 
between  words  and  their  meanings  are  habit- 
ually traced,  and  the  laws  regulating  them  ex- 
plained; it  must  be  admitted  that  they  are 
commonly  learned  as  fortuitous  relations.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  relations  which  science 
presents  are  casual  relations ; and,  when  prop- 
erly taught,  are  understood  as  such.  Instead 
of  being  practically  accidental,  they  are  nec- 
essary ; and  as  such,  give  exercise  to  the  rea- 
soning faculties.  While  language  familiar- 
izes with  non-rational  relations,  science  fa- 


74 


EDUCATION. 


miliarizes  with  rational  relations.  While  the 
one  exercises  memory  only,  the  other  exer- 
cises both  memory  and  understanding. 

Observe  next  that  a,  great  superiority  of  sci- 
ence over  language  as  a means  of  discipline, 
is,  that  it  cultivates  the  judgment.  As,  in  a 
lecture  on  mental  education  delivered  at  the 
Royal  Institution,  Professor  Faraday  well  re- 
marks, the  most  common  intellectual  fault  is 
deficiency  of  judgment.  He  contends  that 
“society,  speaking  generally,  is  not  only  ig- 
norant as  respects  education  of  the  judgment, 
but  it  is  also  ignorant  of  its  ignorance.”  And 
the  cause  to  which  he  ascribes  this  state  is 
want  of  scientific  culture.  The  truth  of  his 
conclusion  is  obvious.  Correct  judgment  with 
regard  to  all  surrounding  things,  events,  and 
consequences,  becomes  possible  only  through 
knowledge  of  the  way  in  which  surrounding 
phenomena  depend  on  each  other.  No  extent 
of  acquaintance  with  the  meanings  of  words, 
can  give  the  power  of  forming  correct  infer- 
ences respecting  causes  and  effects.  The  con- 
stant habit  of  drawing  conclusions  from  data, 
and  then  of  verifying  those  conclusions  by  ob- 
servation and  experiment,  can  alone  give  the 
power  of  judging  correctly.  And  that  it  ne- 
cessitates this  habit  is  one  of  the  immense  ad- 
vantages of  science. 

Not  only,  however,  for  intellectual  disci- 
pline is  science  the  best ; but  also  for  moral 
discipline.  The  learning  of  languages  tends, 
if  anything,  further  to  increase  the  already 
undue  respect  for  authority.  Such  and  such 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH,  75 


are  the  meanings  of  these  words,  says  the 
teacher  or  the  dictionary.  So  and  so  is  the 
rule  in  this  case,  says  the  grammar.  By  the 
pupil  these  dicta  are  received  as  unquestion- 
able. His  constant  attitude  of  mind  is  that 
of  submission  to  dogmatic  teaching.  And  a 
necessary  result  is  a tendency  to  accept  with- 
out inquiry  whatever  is  established.  Quite 
opposite  is  the  attitude  of  mind  generated  by 
the  cultivation  of  science.  By  science,  con- 
stant appeal  is  made  to  individual  reason. 
Its  truths  are  not  accepted  upon  authority 
alone ; but  all  are  at  liberty  to  test  them — nay, 
in  many  cases,  the  pupil  is  required  to  think 
out  his  own  conclusions.  Every  step  in  a sci- 
entific investigation  is  submitted  to  his  judg- 
ment. He  is  not  asked  to  admit  it  without 
seeing  it  to  be  true.  And  the  trust  in  his  own 
powers  thus  produced,  is  further  increased  by 
the  constancy  with  which  Nature  justifies  his 
conclusions  when  they  are  correctly  drawn. 
From  all  which  there  flows  that  independence 
which  is  a most  valuable  element  in  char- 
acter. Nor  is  this  the  only  moral  benefit  be- 
queathed by  scientific  culture.  When  carried 
on,  as  it  should  always  be,  as  much  as  possi- 
ble under  the  form  of  independent  research, 
it  exercises  perseverance  and  sincerity.  As 
says  Professor  Tyndall  of  inductive  inquiry, 
* ‘ it  requires  patient  industry,  and  an  humble 
and  conscientious  acceptance  of  what  Nature 
reveals.  The  first  condition  of  success  is  an 
honest  receptivity  and  a willingness  to  aban- 
don all  preconceived  notions,  however  cher- 


76 


EDUCATION . 


ished,  if  they  be  found  to  contradict  the  truth. 
Believe  me,  a self-renunciation  which  has 
something  noble  in  it,  and  of  which  the  world 
never  hears,  is  often  enacted  in  the  private  ex- 
perience of  the  true  votary  of  science.” 

Lastly  we  have  to  assert — and  the  assertion 
will,  we  doubt  not,  cause  extreme  surprise — 
that  the  discipline  of  science  is  superior  to 
that  of  our  ordinary  education,  because  of  the 
religious  culture  that  it  gives.  Of  course  we 
do  not  here  use  the  words  scientific  and  relig- 
ious in  their  ordinary  limited  acceptations; 
but  in  their  widest  and  highest  acceptations. 
Doubtless,  to  the  superstitions  that  pass  under 
the  name  of  religion,  science  is  antagonistic ; 
hut  not  to  the  essential  religion  which  these 
superstitions  merely  hide.  Doubtless,  too,  in 
much  of  the  science  that  is  current,  there  is  a 
pervading  spirit  of  irreligion ; but  not  in  that 
true  science  which  has  passed  beyond  the 
superficial  into  the  profound. 


“ True  science  and  true  religion,”  says  Professor  Huxley  at 
the  close  of  a recent  course  of  lectures,  “ are  twin-sisters,  and 
the  separation  of  either  from  the  other  is  sure  to  prove  the 
death  of  both.  Science  prospers  exactly  in  proportion  as  it 
is  religious;  and  religion  flourishes  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
scientific  depth  and  firmness  of  its  basis.  The  great  deeds  of 
philosophers  have  been  less  the  fruit  of  their  intellect  than  of 
the  direction  of  that  intellect  by  an  eminently  religious  tone 
of  mind.  Truth  has  yielded  herself  rather  to  their  patience, 
their  love,  their  single-heartedness,  and  their  self-denial,  than 
to  their  logical  acumen.” 


So  far  from  science  being  irreligious,  as 
many  think,  it  is  the  neglect  of  science  that 
is  irreligious — it  is  the  refusal  to  study  the 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH . 77 


surrounding  creation  that  is  irreligious.  Take 
a humble  simile.  Suppose  a writer  were  daily 
saluted  with  praises  couched  in  superlative 
language.  Suppose  the  wisdom,  the  grandeur, 
the  beauty  of  his  works,  were  the  constant 
topics  of  the  eulogies  addressed  to  him.  Sup- 
pose those  who  unceasingly  uttered  these  eu- 
logies on  his  works  were  content  with  looking 
at  the  outsides  of  them ; and  had  never  opened 
them,  much  less  tried  to  understand  them. 
What  value  should  we  put  upon  their  praises? 
What  should  we  think  of  their  sincerity?* 
Yet,  comparing  small  things  to  great,  such  is 
the  conduct  of  mankind  in  general,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Universe  and  its  Cause.  Nay,  it 
is  worse.  Not  only  do  they  pass  by  without 
study,  these  things  which  they  daily  proclaim 
to  be  so  wonderful ; but  very  frequently  they 
condemn  as  mere  triflers  those  who  give  time 
to  the  observation  of  Nature — they  actually 
scorn  those  who  show  any  active  interest  in 
these  marvels.  We  repeat,  then,  that  not 
science,  but  the  neglect  of  science,  is  irrelig- 
ious. Devotion  to  science  is  a tacit  worship 
— a tacit  recognition  of  worth  in  the  things 
studied;  and  by  implication  in  their  Cause. 
It  is  not  a mere  lip-homage,  but  a homage  ex- 
pressed in  actions — not  a mere  professed  re- 
spect, but  a respect  proved  by  the  sacrifice  of 
time,  thought,  and  labor. 

Nor  is  it  thus  only  that  true  science  is  es- 
sentially religious.  It  is  religious,  too,  inas- 
much as  it  generates  a profound  respect  for, 
and  an  implicit  faith  in,  those  uniform  laws 


IS 


EDUCATION. 


which  underlie  all  things.  By  accumulated 
experiences  the  man  of  science  acquires  a 
thorough  belief  in  the  unchanging  relations  of 
phenomena — in  the  invariable  connection  of 
cause  and  consequence — in  the  necessity  of 
good  or  evil  results.  Instead  of  the  rewards 
and  punishments  of  traditional  belief,  which 
men  vaguely  hope  they  may  gain,  or  escape, 
spite  of  their  disobedience ; he  finds  that  there 
are  rewards  and  punishments  in  the  ordained 
constitution  of  things,  and  that  the  evil  results 
‘of  disobedience  are  inevitable.  He  sees  that 
the  laws  to  which  we  must  submit  are  not 
only  inexorable  but  beneficent.  He  sees  that 
in  virtue  of  these  laws,  the  process  of  things 
is  ever  towards  a greater  perfection  and  a 
higher  happiness.  Hence  he  is  led  constantly 
to  insist  on  these  laws,  and  is  indignant  when 
men  disregard  them.  And  thus  does  he,  by 
asserting  the  eternal  principles  of  things  and 
the  necessity  of  conforming  to  them,  prove 
himself  intrinsically  religious. 

To  all  which  add  the  further  religious  aspect 
of  science,  that  it  alone  can  give  us  true  con- 
ceptions of  ourselves  and  our  relation  to  the 
mysteries  of  existence.  At  the  same  time  that 
it  shows  us  all  which  can  be  known,. it  shows 
us  the  limits  beyond  which  we  can  know  noth- 
ing. Not  by  dogmatic  assertion  does  it  teach 
-the  impossibility  of  comprehending  the  ulti- 
mate cause  of  things ; but  it  leads  us  clearly 
to  recognize  this  impossibility  by  bringing  us 
in  every  direction  to  boundaries  we  cannot 
cross.  It  realizes  to  us  in  a way  which  noth- 


KNO  WLEDGE  OF  MOST  WOE  TIL  79 


ing  else  can,  the  littleness  of  human  intelli- 
gence in  the  face  of  that  which  transcends 
human  intelligence.  While  towards  the  tra- 
ditions and  authorities  of  men  its  attitude 
may  be  proud,  before  the  impenetrable  veil 
which  hides  the  Absolute  its  attitude  is  hum- 
ble— a true  pride  and  a true  humility.  Only 
the  sincere  man  of  science  (and  by  this  title 
we  do  not  mean  the  mere  calculator  of  dis- 
tances, or  analyzer  of  compounds,  or  labeller 
of  species ; but  him  who  through  lower  truths 
seeks  higher,  and  eventually  the  highest) — 
only  the  genuine  man  of  science,  we  say,  can 
truly  know  how  utterly  beyond,  not  only  hu- 
man knowledge,  but  human  conception,  is  the 
Universal  Power  of  which  Nature,  and  Life, 
and  Thought  are  manifestations. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  for  discipline,  as 
well  as  for  guidance,  science  is  of  chiefest 
value.  In  all  its  effects,  learning  the  mean- 
ings of  things,  is  better  than  learning  the 
meanings  of  words.  Whether  for  intellectual, 
moral,  or  religious  training,  the_stndy ;.o_f  sur- 
rounding phenomena  is  immensely  superior 
to  the  study  of  grammars  and  lexicons. 

Thus  to  the  question  with  which  we  set  out 
— What  knowledge  is  of  most  worth? — the 
uniform  reply  is— Science. > This  is  the  ver- 
dict on  all  the  counts.  For  direct  seK-prgser- 
vafion,  or  the  maintenance  of  life  and  health, 
the  all-important  knowledge  is — Science.  For 
thatjndireet  self-preservation  which  we  call 
gainlngliTivelihoood,  the  knowledge  of  erreat- 


80 


EDUCATION. 


est  value  is — Science.  For  the  due  discharge 
of  parental  functions,  the  proper  guidance  is 
tod&e'found  only  in — Science.  For  that  inter- 
pretation of  national  life,  past  and  present, 
without  which  the  citizen  cannot  rightly  reg- 
ulate his  conduct,  the  indispensable  key  is — 
Science.  Alike  for  the  most  perfect  produc- 
tion and  highest  enjoyment  of  art  in  all  its 
forms,  the  needful  preparation  is  still — Sci- 
ence. And  for  purposes  of  discipline — in- 
tellectual, moral,  religious — the  most  effi- 
cient study  is,  once  more— Science.  The  ques- 
tion which  at  first  seemed  so  perplexed,  has 
become,  in  the  course  of  our  inquiry,  compar- 
atively simple.  We  have  not  to  estimate  the 
degrees  of  importance  of  different  orders  of 
human  activity,  and  different  studies  as  sev- 
erally fitting  us  for  them ; since  we  find  that 
the  study  of  Science,  in  its  most  comprehen- 
sive meaning,  is  the  best  preparation  for  all 
these  orders  of  activity.  We  have  not  to  de- 
cide between  the  claims  of  knowledge  of 
great  though  conventional  value,  and  knowl- 
edge of  less  though  intrinsic  value;  seeing 
that  the  knowledge  which  we  find  to  be  of 
most  value  in  all  other  respects,  is  intrin- 
sically most  valuable : its  worth  is  not  depen- 
dent upon  opinion,  but  is  as  fixed  as  is  the 
relation  of  man  to  the  surrounding  world. 
Necessary  and  eternal  as  are  its  truths,  all 
Science  concerns  all  mankind  for  all  time. 
Equally  at  present,  and  in  the  remotest  fu- 
ture, must  it  be  of  incalculable  importance 
for  the  regulation  of  their  conduct,  that  men 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH.  81 


should  understand  the  science  of  life,  physi- 
cal, mental,  and  social  ;~and  that  they  should 
understand  all  other  science  as  a key  to  the 
science  of  life. 

And  yet  the  knowledge  which  is  of  such 
transcendent  value  is  that  which,  in  our  age 
of  boasted  education,  receives  the  least  at- 
tention. While  this  which  we  call  civilization 
could  never  have  arisen  had  it  not  been  for 
science ; science  forms  scarcely  an  appreciable 
element  in  what  men  consider  civilized  train- 
ing. Though  to  the  progress  of  science  we 
owe  it,  that  millions  find  support  where  once 
there  was  food  only  for  thousands;  yet  of 
these  millions  but  a few  thousands  pay  any  re- 
spect to  that  which  has  made  their  existence 
possible.  Though  this  increasing  knowledge 
of  the  properties  and  relations  of  things  has 
not  only  enabled  wandering  tribes  to  grow  in- 
to populous'nations,  but  has  given  to  the  count- 
less members  of  those  populous  nations  com- 
forts and  pleasures  which  their  few  naked 
ancestors  never  even  conceived,  or  could 
have  believed,  yet  is  this  kind  of  knowledge 
only  now  receiving  a grudging  recognition  in 
our  highest  educational  institutions.  To  the 
slowly  growing  acquaintance  with  the  uni- 
form co-existences  and  sequences  of  phe- 
nomena— to  the  establishment  of  invariable 
laws,  we  owe  our  emancipation  from  the 
grossest  superstitions.  But  for  science  we 
should  be  still  worshipping  fetishes;  or,  with 
hecatombs  of  victims,  propitiating  diabolical 
deities.  And  yet  this  science,  which,  in  place 
6 


82 


EDUCATION. 


of  the  most  degrading  conceptions  of  things, 
has  given  us  some  insight  into  the  grandeurs 
of  creation,  is  written  against  in  our  theol- 
ogies and  frowned  upon  from  our  pulpits. 

Paraphrasing  an  Eastern  fable,  we  may 
say  that  in  the  family  of  knowledges,  Science 
is  the  household  drudge,  who,  in  obscurity, 
hides  unrecognized  perfections.  To  her  has 
been  committed  all  the  work ; by  her  skill, 
intelligence  and  devotion,  have  all  the  con- 
veniences and  gratifications  been  obtained; 
and  while  ceaselessly  occupied  ministering  to 
the  rest,  she  has  been  kept  in  the  background, 
that  her  haughty  sisters  might  flaunt  their 
fripperies  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  The 
parallel  holds  yet  further.  For  we  are  fast 
coming  to  the  denouement , when  the  positions 
will  be  changed;  and  while  these  haughty 
sisters  sink  into  merited  neglect,  Science, 
proclaimed  as  highest  alike  in  worth  and 
beauty,  will  reign  supreme. 


CHAPTER  II. 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 

There  cannot  fail  to  be  a relationship  be- 
tween the  successive  systems  of  education, - 
and  the  successive  social  states  with  which 
they  have  co-existed.  Having  a common  or- 
igin in  the  national  mind,  the  institutions  of 
each  epoch,  whatever  be  their  special  func- 
tions, must  have  a family  likeness.  When 
men  received  their  creed  and  its  interpreta- 
tions from  an  infallible  authority  deigning  no 
explanations,  it  was  natural  that  the  teach- 
ing of  children  should  be  purely  dogmatic. 
While  “ believe  and  ask  no  questions”  was 
the  maxim  of  the  Church,  it  was  fitly  the 
maxim  of  the  school.  Conversely,  now  that 
Protestantism  has  gained  for  adults  a right 
of  private  judgment  and  established  the  prac- 
tice of  appealing  to  reason,  there  is  harmony 
in  the  change  that  has  made  juvenile  instruc- 
tion a process  of  exposition  addressed  to  the 
understanding.  Along  with  political  despot- 
ism, stern  in  its  commands,  ruling  by  force 
of  terror,  visiting  trifling  crimes  with  death, 
and  implacable  in  its  vengeance  on  the  dis- 
loyal, there  necessarily  grew  up  an  academic 
discipline  similarly  harsh — a discipline  of 
multiplied  injunctions  and  blows  for  every 
breach  of  them — a discipline  of  unlimited  au- 


84 


EDUCATION. 


tocracy  upheld  by  rods,  and  ferules,  and  the 
black-hole.  On  the  other  hand,  the  increase 
of  political  liberty,  the  abolition  of  law  re- 
stricting individual  action,  and  the  ameliora- 
tion of  the  criminal  code,  have  been  accom- 
panied by  a kindred  progress  towards  non- 
coercive  education : the  pupil  is  hampered  by 
fewer  restraints,  and  other  means  than  pun- 
ishments are  used  to  govern  him.  In  those 
ascetic  days  when  men,  acting  on  the  great- 
est misery  principle,  held  that  the  more  grat- 
ifications they  denied  themselves  the  more 
virtuous  they  were,  they,  as  a matter  of 
course,  considered  that  the  best  education 
which  most  thwarted  the  wishes  of  their  chil- 
dren, and  cut  short  all  spontaneous  activity 
with — “You  mustn’t  do  so.”  While  on  the 
contrary,  now  that  happiness  is  coming  to  be 
regarded  as  a legitimate  aim — now  that  hours 
of  labor  are  being  shortened  and  popular  rec- 
reations provided,  parents  and  teachers  are 
beginning  to  see  that  most  childish  desires 
may  rightly  be  gratified,  that  childish  sports 
should  be  encouraged,  and  that  the  tenden- 
cies of  the  growing  mind  are  not  altogether 
so  diabolical  as  was  supposed.  The  age  in 
which  all  thought  that  trades  must  be  estab- 
lished by  bounties  and  prohibitions;  that 
manufacturers  needed  their  materials  and 
qualities  and  prices  to  be  prescribed;  and 
that  the  value  of  money  could  be  determined 
by  law ; was  an  age  which  unavoidably  cher- 
ished the  notions  that  a child’s  mind  could  be 
made  to  order ; that  its  powers  were  to  be  im- 


INTELLECT  UAL  EL  UCA  TION. 


85 


parted  by  the  schoolmaster ; that  it  was  a re- 
ceptacle into  which  knowledge  was  to  be  put 
and  there  built  up  after  its  teacher’s  ideal. 
In  this  free-trade  era,  however,  when  we  are 
learning  that  there  is  much  more  self-regula- 
tion  in  things  than  was  supposed ; that  labor, 
and  commerce,  and  agriculture,  and  naviga- 
tion can  do  better  without  management  than 
w ith  it ; that  political  governments,  to  be  ef- 
ficient, must  grow  up  from  within  and  not 
be  imposed  from  without ; we  are  also  begin- 
ning to  see  that  there  is  a natural  process  of 
mental  evolution  which  is  not  to  be  disturbed 
without  injury;  that  we  may  not  force  on 
the  unfolding  mind  our  artificial  forms ; but 
that  Psychology,  also,  discloses  to  us  a law  of 
supply  and  demand,  to  which,  if  we  would 
not  do  harm,  w^e  must  conform.  Thus  alike 
in  its  oracular  dogmatism,  in  its  harsh  disci- 
pline, in  its  multiplied  restrictions,  in  its  pro- 
fessed asceticism,  and  in  its  faith  in  the  de- 
vices of  men,  the  old  educational  regime  was 
akin  to  the  social  systems  with  which  it  was 
contemporaneous;  and  similarly,  in  the  re- 
verse of  these  characteristics  our  modern 
modes  of  culture  correspond  to  our  more  lib- 
eral religious  and  political  institutions. 

But  there  remain  further  parallelisms  to 
which  we  have  not  yet  adverted : that,  name- 
ly, between  the  processes  by  .which  these 
respective  changes  have  been  wrought  out; 
and  that  between  the  several  states  of  het- 
erogeneous opinion  to  which  they  have 
led.  Some  centuries  ago  there  was  uniform- 


£6 


EDUCATION. 


ity  of  belief — religious,  political,  and  educa- 
tional. All  men  were  Eomanists,  all  were 
Monarchists,  all  were  disciples  of  Aristotle, 
and  no  one  thought  of  calling  in  question 
that  grammar-school  routine  under  which  all 
were  brought  up.  The  same  agency  has  in 
each  case  replaced  this  uniformity  by  a con- 
stantly increasing  diversity.  That  tendency 
towards  assertion  of  the  individuality,  which, 
after  contributing  to  produce  the  great  Prot- 
estant movement,  has  since  gone  on  to  pro- 
duce an  ever-increasing  number  of  sects — that 
tendency  which  initiated  political  parties, 
and  out  of  the  two  primary  ones  has,  in  these' 
modern  days,  evolved  a multiplicity  to  which 
every  year  adds — that  tendency  which  led  to 
the  Baconian  rebellion  against  the  schools, 
and  has  since  originated  here  and  abroad 
sundry  new  systems  of  thought — is  a ten- 
dency which,  in  education  also,  has  caused 
division  and  the  accumulation  of  methods. 
x\s  external  consequences  of  the  same  inter- 
nal change,  these  processes  have  necessarily 
been  more  or  less  simultaneous.  The  decline 
of  authority,  whether  papal,  philosophic, 
kingly,  or  tutorial,  is  essentially  one  phenom- 
enon ; in  each  of  its  aspects  a leaning  towards 
free  action  is  seen  alike  in  the  working  out  of 
the  change  itself,  and  in  the  new  forms  of 
theory  and  practice  to  which  the  change  has 
given  birth. 

While  many  will  regret  this  multiplication 
of  schemes  of  juvenile  culUire,  the  catholic 
observer  will  discern  in  it  a means  of  ensur- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


87 


ing  the  final  establishment  of  a rational  sys- 
tem. Whatever  may  he  thought  of  theologi- 
cal dissent,  it  is  clear  that  dissent  in  educa- 
tion results  in  facilitating  inquiry  by  the  di- 
vision in  labor.  Were  we  in  possession  of  the 
true  method,  divergence  from  it  would,  of 
course,  be  prejudicial;  but  the  true  method 
having  to  be  found,  the  efforts  of  numerous 
independent  seekers  carrying  out  their  re- 
searches in  different  directions,  constitute  a 
better  agency  for  finding  it  than  any  that 
could  be  devised.  Each  of  them  struck  by 
some  new  thought  which  probably  contains 
more  or  less  of  basis  in  facts — each  of  them 
zealous  on  behalf  of  his  plan,  fertile  in  expe- 
dients to  test  its  correctness,  and  untiring  in 
his  efforts  to  make  known  its  success — each 
of  them  merciless  in  his  criticism  on  the  rest 
— there  cannot  fail,  by  composition  of  forces, 
to  be  a gradual  approximation  of  all  towards 
the  right  course.  Whatever  portion  of  the 
normal  method  any  one  of  them  has  discov- 
ered, must,  by  the  constant  exhibition  of  its 
results,  force  itself  into  adoption;  whatever 
wrong  practices  he  has  joined  with  it  must,  by 
repeated  experiment  and  failure,  be  explod- 
ed. And  by  this  aggregation  of  truths  and 
elimination  of  errors,  there  must  eventually 
be  developed  a correct  and  complete  body  of 
doctrine.  Of  the  three  phases  through  which 
human  opinion  passes — the  unanimity  of  the 
ignorant,  the  disagreement  of  the  inquiring, 
and  the  unanimity  of  the  wise — it  is  manifest 
that  the  second  is  the  parent  of  the  third. 


88 


EDUCATION. 


They  are  not  sequences  in  time  only;  they 
are  sequences  in  causation.  However  impa- 
tiently, therefore,  we  may  witness  the  pres- 
ent conflict  of  educational  systems,  and  how- 
ever much  we  may  regret  its  accompanying 
evils,  we  must  recognize  it  as  a transition 
stage  needful  to  he  passed  through,  and  ben- 
eficent in  its  ultimate  effects. 

Meanwhile  may  we  not  advantageously 
take  stock  of  our  progress?  After  fifty  years 
of  discussion,  experiment,  and  comparison  of 
results,  may  we  not  expect  a few  steps  tow- 
ards the  goal  to  be  already  made  good?  Some 
old  methods  must  by  this  time  have  fallen 
out  of  use ; some  new  ones  must  have  become 
established;  and  many  others  must  be  in 
process  of  general  abandonment  or  adoption. 
Probably  we  may  see  in  these  various 
changes,  when  put  side  by  side,  similar  char- 
acteristics— may  find  in  them  a common  ten- 
dency; and  so,  by  inference,  may  get  a clue 
to  the  direction  in  which  experience  is  leading 
us,  and  gather  hints  how  we  may  achieve  yet 
further  improvements.  Let  us  then,  as  a 
preliminary  to  a deeper  consideration  of  the 
matter,  glance  at  the  leading  contrasts  be- 
tween the  education  of  the  past  and  of  the 
present. 

The  suppression  of  every  error  is  commonly 
followed  by  a temporary  ascendency  of  the 
contrary  one ; and  it  so  happened,  that  after 
the  ages  when  physical  development  alone 
was  aimed  at,  there  came  an  age  when  cult- 
ure of  the  mind  was  the  sole  solicitude — when 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


89 


children  had  lesson-hooks  put  before  them  at 
between  two  and  three  years  old — when 
school-hours  were  protracted,  and  the  getting 
of  knowledge  was  thought  the  one  thing 
needful.  As,  further,  it  usually  happens, 
that  after  one  of  these  reactions  the  next  ad- 
vance is  achieved  by  co-ordinating  the  antag- 
onist errors,  and  perceiving  that  they  are  op- 
posite sides  of  one  truth ; so  we  are  now  com- 
ing to  the  conviction  that  body  and  mind 
must  both  be  cared  for,  and  the  whole  being 
unfolded.  The  forcing  system  has  been  in 
great  measure  given  up,  and  precocity  is  dis- 
couraged. People  are  beginning  to  see  that 
the  first  requisite  to  success  in  life,  is  to  be  a 
good  animal.  The  best  brain  is  found  of  little 
service,  if  there  be  not  enough  vital  energy  to 
work  it ; and  hence  to  obtain  the  one  by  sac- 
rificing the  source  of  the  other,  is  now  con- 
sidered a folly — a folly  which  the  eventual 
failure  of  juvenile  prodigies  constantly  illus- 
trates. Thus  we  are  discovering  the  wisdom 
of  the  saying,  that  one  secret  in  education  is 
“ to  know  how  wisely  to  lose  time.” 

The  once  universal  practice  of  learning  by 
rote,  is  daily  falling  more  into  discredit.  All 
modern  authorities  condemn  the  old  mechan- 
ical way  of  teaching  the  alphabet.  The  mul- 
tiplication table  is  now  frequently  taught  ex- 
perimentally. In  the  acquirement  of  lan- 
guages, the  grammar-school  plan  is  being  su- 
perseded by  plans  based  on  the  spontaneous 
process  followed  by  the  child  in  gaining  its 
mother  tongue.  Describing  the  methods 


90 


EDUCATION. 


there  used,  the  4 4 Eeports  on  the  Training 
School  at  Battersea”  say: — 44 The  instruction 
in  the  whole  preparatory  course  is  chiefly 
oral,  and  is  illustrated  as  much  as  possible  by 
appeals  to  nature.  ” And  so  throughout.  The 
rote-system,  like  other  systems  of  its  age, 
made  more  of  the  forms  and  symbols  than  of 
the  things  symbolized.  To  repeat  the  words 
correctly  was  everything ; to  understand  their 
meaning  nothing:  and  thus  the  spirit  was 
sacrificed  to  the  letter.  It  is  at  length  per- 
ceived, that  in  this  case  as  in  others,  such  a 
result  is  not  accidental  but  necessary — that 
in  proportion  as  there  is  attention  to  the 
signs,  there  must  be  inattention  to  the  things 
signified ; or  that,  as  Montaigne  long  ago  said 
— Sgavoir  par  coeur  n'est  pas  sgavoir. 

Along  with  rote-teaching,  is  declining  also 
the  nearly  allied  teaching  by  rules.  The  par- 
ticulars first,  and  then  the  generalization,  is 
the  new  method — a method,  as  the  Battersea 
School  Reports  remark,  which,  though  4 4 the 
reverse  of  the  method  usually  followed  which 
consists  in  giving  the  pupil  the  rule  first,”  is 
yet  proved  by  experience  to  be  the  right  one. 
Rule-teaching  is  now  condemned  as  impart- 
ing a merely  empirical  knowledge — as  pro- 
ducing an  appearance  of  understanding  with- 
out the  reality.  To  give  the  net  product  of 
inquiry,  without  the  inquiry  that  leads  to  it, 
is  found  to  be  both  enervating  and  inefficient. 
General  truths  to  be  of  due  and  permanent 
use,  must  be  earned.  4 4 Easy  come  easy  go,” 
is  a saying  as  applicable  to  knowledge  as  to 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


91 


wealth.  While  rules,  lying  isolated  in  the 
mind — not  joined  to  its  other  contents  as  out- 
growths from  them — are  continually  forgot- 
ten, the  principles  which  those  rules  express 
piecemeal,  become,  when  once  reached  by  the 
understanding,  enduring  possessions.  While 
the  rule-taught  youth  is  at  sea  when  beyond 
his  rules,  the  youth  instructed  in  principles 
solves  a new  case  as  readily  as  an  old  one. 
Between  a mind  of  rules  and  a mind  of  prin- 
ciples, there  exists  a difference  such  as  that 
between  a confused  heap  of  materials,  and  the 
same  materials  organized  into  a complete 
whole,  with  all  its  parts  bound  together.  Of 
which  types  this  last  has  not  only  the  advan- 
tage that  its  constituent  parts  are  better  re- 
tained, but  the  much  greater  advantage,  that 
it  forms  an  efficient  agent  for  inquiry,  for  in- 
dependent thought,  for  discovery — ends  for 
which  the  first  is  useless.  Nor  let  it  be  sup- 
posed that  this  is  a simile  only : it  is  the  lit- 
eral truth.  The  union  of  facts  into  generali- 
zations is  the  organization  of  knowledge, 
whether  considered  as  an  objective  phenome- 
non, or  a subjective  one:  and  the  mental 
grasp  may  be  measured  by  the  extent  to 
which  this  organization  is  carried. 

From  the  substitution  of  principles  for  rules, 
and  the  necessarily  co-ordinate  practice  of 
leaving  abstractions  untaught  until  the  mind 
has  been  familiarized  with  the  facts  from 
which  they  are  abstracted,  has  resulted  the 
postponement  of  some  once  early  studies  to  a 
late  period.  This  is  exemplified  in  the  aban- 


92 


EDUCATION. 


donment  of  that  intensely  stupid  custom,  the 
teaching  of  grammar  to  children.  As  M.  Mar- 
cel says: — “It  may  without  hesitation  be  af- 
firmed that  grammar  is  not  the  stepping- 
stone,  but  the  finishing  instrument.”  As  Mr. 
Wyse  argues: — “ Grammar  and  Syntax  are  a 
collection  of  laws  and  rules.  Eules  are  gath- 
ered from  practice : they  are  the  results  of  in- 
duction to  which  we  come  by  long  obser- 
vation and  comparison  of  facts.  It  is,  in 
fine,  the  science,  the  philosophy  of  language. 
In  following  the  process  of  nature,  neither  in- 
dividuals nor  nations  ever  arrive  at  the 
science  first.  A language  is  spoken,  and  poe- 
try written,  many  years  before  either  a 
grammar  or  prosody  is  even  thought  of. 
Men  did  not  wait  till  Aristotle  had  con- 
structed his  logic,  to  reason.  In  short,  as 
grammar  y^as  made  after  language,  so  ought 
it  to  be  taught  after  language : an  inference 
which  all  who  recognize  the  relationship  be- 
tween the  evolution  of  the  race  and  of  the  in- 
dividual, will  see  to  be  unavoidable. 

Of  new  practices  that  have  grown  up  dur- 
ing the  decline  of  these  old  ones,  the  most 
important  is  the  systematic  culture  of  the 
powers  of  observation.  After  long  ages  of 
blindness  men  are  at  last  seeing  that  the 
spontaneous  activity  of  the  observing  facul- 
ties in  children  has  a meaning  and  a use. 
What  was  once  thought  mere  purposeless  ac- 
tion or  play,  or  mischief,  as  the  case  might  be, 
is  now  recognized  as  the  process  of  acquiring 
a knowledge  on  which  all  after-knowledge  is 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


93 


based.  Hence  the  well-conceived  but  ill-con- 
ducted system  of  object-lessons.  The  saying 
of  Bacon,  that  physics  is  the  mother  of 
sciences,  has  come  to  have  a meaning  in  edu- 
cation. Without  an  accurate  acquaintance 
with  the  visible  and  tangible  properties  of 
things,  our  conceptions  must  be  erroneous, 
our  inferences  fallacious,  and  our  operations 
unsuccessful.  “The  education  of  the  senses 
neglected,  all  after  education  partakes  of  a 
drowsiness,  a haziness,  an  insufficiency  which 
it  is  impossible  to  cure.”  Indeed,  if  we  con- 
sider it,  we  shall  find  that  exhaustive  obser- 
vation is  an  element  in  all  great  success.  It 
is  not  to  artists,  naturalists,  and  men  of 
science  only,  that  it  is  needful ; it  is  not  only 
that  the  skilful  physician  depends  on  it  for  the 
correctness  of  his  diagnosis,  and  that  to  the 
good  engineer  it  is  so  important  that  some 
years  in  the  workshop  are  prescribed  for  him ; 
but  we  may  see  that  the  philosopher  also  is 
fundamentally  one  who  observes  relationships 
of  things  which  others  had  overlooked,  and 
that  the  poet,  too,  is  one  who  sees  the  fine 
facts  in  nature  which  all  recognize  when 
pointed  out,  but  did  not  before  remark. 
Nothing  requires  more  to  be  insisted  on  than 
that  vivid  and  complete  impressions  are  all 
essential.  No  sound  fabric  of  wisdom  can  be 
woven  out  of  raw  material. 

While  the  old  method  of  presenting  truths 
in  the  abstract  has  been  falling  out  of  use, 
there  has  been  a corresponding  adoption  of 
the  new  method  of  presenting  them  in  the 


94 


EDUCATION . 


concrete.  The  rudimentary  facts  of  exact 
science  are  now  being  learnt  by  direct  intui- 
tion, as  textures,  and  tastes,  and  colors  are 
learnt.  Employing  the  ball-frame  for  first 
lessons  in  arithmetic  exemplifies  this.  It  is 
well  illustrated,  too,  in  Professor  De  Morgan’s 
mode  of  explaining  the  decimal  notation.  M. 
Marcel,  rightly  repudiating  the  old  system  of 
tables,  teaches  weights  and  measures  by  re- 
ferring to  the  actual  yard  and  foot,  pound 
and  ounce,  gallon  and  quart ; and  lets  the  dis- 
covery of  their  relationships  be  experimental. 
The  use  of  geographical  models  and  models  of 
the  regular  bodies,  etc.,  as  introductory  to 
geography  and  geometry  respectively,  are 
facts  of  the  same  class.  Manifestly  a com- 
mon trait  of  these  methods  is,  that  they  carry 
each  child’s  mind  through  a process  like  that 
which  the  mind  of  humanity  at  large  has  gone 
through.  The  truths  of  number,  of  form,  of 
relationship  in  position,  were  all  originally 
drawn  from  objects;  and  to  present  these 
truths  to  the  child  in  the  concrete  is  to  let  him 
learn  them  as  the  race  learnt  them.  By  and 
by,  perhaps,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  cannot 
possibly  learn  them  in  any  other  way;  for 
that  if  he  is  made  to  repeat  them  as  abstrac- 
tions, the  abstractions  can  have  no  meaning 
for  him,  until  he  finds  that  they  are  simply 
statements  of  what  he  intuitively  discerns. 

But  of  all  the  changes  taking  place,  the 
most  significant  is  the  growing  desire  to  make 
the  acquirement  of  knowledge  pleasurable 
rather  than  painful — a desire  based  on  the 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


95 


more  or  less  distinct  perception  that  at  each  age 
the  intellectual  action  which  a child  likes  is  a 
healthful  one  for  it ; and  conversely.  There  is 
a spreading  opinion  that  the  rise  of  an  appe- 
tite for  any  kind  of  knowledge  implies  that 
the  unfolding  mind  has  become  fit  to  assimi- 
late it,  and  needs  it  for  the  purposes  of  growth ; 
and  that  on  the  other  hand,  the  disgust  felt 
towards  any  kind  of  knowledge  is  a sign 
either  that  it  is  prematurely  presented,  or 
that  it  is  presented  in  an  indigestible  form. 
Hence  the  efforts  to  make  early  education 
amusing,  and  all  education  interesting. 
Hence  the  lectures  on  the  value  of  play. 
Hence  the  defence  of  nursery  rhymes,  and 
fairy  tales.  Daily  we  more  and  more  con- 
form our  plans  to  juvenile  opinion.  Does  the 
child  like  this  or  that  kind  of  teaching  ? does 
he  take  to  it  ? we  constantly  ask.  4 4 His 
natural  desire  of  variety  should  be  indulged,” 
says  M.  Marcel ; 4 4 and  the  gratification  of  his 
curiosity  should  be  combined  with  his  im- 
provement.” 44  Lessons,”  he  again  remarks, 

4 4 should  cease  before  the  child  evinces  symp- 
toms of  weariness.  ” And  so  with  later  educa- 
tion. Short  breaks  during  school-hours,  ex- 
cursions into  the  country,  amusing  lectures, 
choral  songs — in  these  and  many  like  traits, 
the  chang.e  may  be  discerned.  Asceticism  is 
disappearing  out  of  education  as  out  of  life ; 
and  the  usual  test  of  political  legislation — its 
tendency  to  promote  happiness — is  beginning 
to  be,  in  a great  degree,  the  test  of  legislation 
for  the  school  and  the  nursery. 


90 


EDUCATION. 


What  now  is  the  common  characteristic  of 
these  several  changes?  Is  it  not  an  increas- 
ing conformity  to  the  methods  of  nature? 
The  relinquishment  of  early  forcing  against 
which  nature  ever  rebels,  and  the  leaving  of 
the  first  years  for  exercise  of  the  * limbs  and 
senses,  show  this.  The  superseding  of  rote- 
learnt  lessons  by  lessons  orally  and  experi- 
mentally given,  like  those  of  the  field  and 
play-ground,  shows  this.  The  disuse  of  rule- 
teaching, and  the  adoption  of  teaching  by 
principles — that  is,  the  leaving  of  generaliza- 
tion until  there  are  particulars  to  base  them 
on — show  this.  The  system  of  object-lessons 
shows  this.  • The  teaching  of  the  rudiments 
of  science  in  the  concrete  instead  of  the  ab- 
stract, shows  this.  And  above  all,  this  ten- 
dency is  shown  in  the  variously  directed  ef- 
forts to  present  knowledge  in  attractive  forms, 
and  so  to  make  the  acquirement  of  it  pleas- 
urable. For  as  it  is  the  order  of  nature  in  all 
creatures  that  the  gratification  accompany- 
ing the  fulfilment  of  needful  functions  serves 
as  a stimulus  to  their  fulfilment — as  during  the 
self-education  of  the  young  child,  the  delight 
taken  in  the  biting  of  corals,  and-  the  pulling 
to  pieces  of  toys,  becomes  the  prompter  to  ac- 
tions which  teach  it  the  properties  of  matter ; 
it  follows  that,  in  choosing  the  succession  of 
subjects  and  the  modes  of  instruction  which 
most  interest  the  pupil,  we  are  fulfilling  na- 
ture's behests,  and  adjusting  our  proceedings 
to  the  laws  of  life. 

Thus,  then,  we  are  on  the  highway  towards 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


97 


the  doctrine  long  ago  enunciated  by  Pesta- 
lozzi,  that  alike  in  its  order  and  its  methods, 
education  must  conform  to  the  natural  proc- 
ess of  mental  evolution — that  there  is  a cer- 
tain sequence  in  which  the  faculties  sponta- 
neously develop,  and  a certain  kind  of  knowl- 
edge which  each  requires  during  its  develop- 
ment ; and  that  it  is  for  us  to  ascertain  this 
sequence,  and  supply  this  knowledge.  All 
the  improvements  above  alluded  to  are  par- 
tial applications  of  this  general  principle.  A 
nebulous  perception  of  it  now  prevails  among 
teachers ; and  it  is  daily  more  insisted  on  in 
educational  works.  ‘ ‘ The  method  of  nature 
is  the  archetype  of  all  methods,”  says  M. 
Marcel.  “ The  vital  principle  in  the  pursuit 
is  to  enable  the  pupil  rightly  to  instruct  him- 
self,” writes  Mr.  Wyse.  The  more  science 
familiarizes  us  with  the  constitution  of  things 
the  more  do  we  see  in  them  an  inherent  self- 
sufficingness.  A higher  knowledge  tends 
continually  to  limit  our  interference  with  the 
processes  of  life.  As  in  medicine  the  old 
“heroic  treatment  ” has  given  place  to  mild 
treatment,  and  often  no  treatment  save  a 
normal  regimen — as  we  have  found  that  it  is 
not  needful  to  mould  the  bodies  of  babes  by 
bandaging  them  in  papoose  fashion  or  other- 
wise— as  in  jails  it  is  being  discovered  that 
no  cunningly  devised  discipline  of  ours  is  so 
efficient  in  producing  reformation  as  the 
natural  discipline,  the  making  prisoners  main- 
tain themselves  by  productive  labor ; so  in 
education  we  are  finding  that  success  is  to  be 
7 


98 


EDUCATION . 


achieved  only  by  rendering  our  measures 
subservient  to  that  spontaneous  unfolding 
which  all  minds  go  through  in  their  progress 
to  maturity. 

Of  course,  this  fundamental  principle  of 
tuition,  that  the  arrangement  of  matter  and 
method  must  correspond  with  the  order  of 
evolution  and  mode  of  activity  of  the  facul- 
ties— a principle  so  obviously  true,  that  once 
stated  it  seems  almost  self-evident — has  never 
been  wholly  disregarded.  Teachers  have 
unavoidably  made  their  school -courses  coin- 
cide with  it  in  some  degree,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  education  is  possible  only  on  that 
condition.  Boys  were  never  taught  the  rule- 
of-three  until  after  they  had  learnt  addition. 
They  were  not  set  to  write  exercises  before 
they  had  got  into  their  copy-books.  Conic 
sections  have  always  been  preceded  by  Eu- 
clid. But  the  error  of  the  old  methods  con- 
sists in  this,  that  they  do  not  recognize  in  de- 
tail what  they  are  obliged  to  recognize  in  the 
general.  Yet  the  principle  applies  through- 
out. If  from  the  time  when  a child  is  able  to 
conceive  two  things  as  related  in  position, 
years  must  elapse  before  it  can  form  a true 
concept  of  the  earth,  as  a sphere  made  up  of 
land  and  sea,  covered  with  mountains,  forests, 
rivers,  and  cities,  revolving  on  its  axis,  and 
sweeping  round  the  sun — if  it  gets  from  the 
one  concept  to  the  other  by  degrees— if  the 
intermediate  concepts  which  it  forms  are 
consecutively  larger  and  more  complicated; 
is  it  not  manifest  that  there  is  a general  sue- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


99 


cession  through  which  only  it  can  pass ; that 
each  larger  concept  is  made  by  the  combina- 
tion of  smaller  ones,  and  presupposes  them ; 
and  that  to  present  any  of  these  compound 
concepts  before  the  child  is  in  possession  of 
its  constituent  ones,  is  only  less  absurd  than 
to  present  the  final  concept  of  the  series  be- 
fore the  initial  one?  In  the  mastering  of 
every  subject  some  course  of  increasingly 
complex  ideas  has  to  be  gone  through.  The 
evolution  of  the  corresponding  faculties  con- 
sists in  the  assimilation  of  these;  which  in 
any  true  sense,  is  impossible  without  they  are 
put  into  the  mind  in  the  normal  order.  And 
when  this  order  is  not  followed,  the  result  is, 
that  they  are  received  with  apathy  or  dis- 
gust ; and  that  unless  the  pupil  is  intelligent 
enough  to  eventually  fill  up  the  gaps  himself, 
they  lie  in  his  memory  as  dead  facts,  capable 
of  being  turned  to  little  or  no  use. 

44  Why  trouble  ourselves  about  any  curric- 
lilum  at  all?  ” it  may  be  asked.  4 k If  it  be  true 
that  the  mind  like  the  body  has  a predeter- 
mined course  of  evolution, — if  it  unfolds 
spontaneously — if  its  successive  desires  for 
this  or  that  kind  of  information  arise  when 
these  are  severally  required  for  its  nutrition, 
— if  there  thus  exists  in  itself  a prompter  to 
the  right  species  of  activity  at  the  right  time ; 
why  interfere  in  any  way  ? Why  not  leave 
children  wholly  to  the  discipline  of  nature? — 
why  not  remain  quite  passive  and  let  them 
get  knowledge  as  they  best  can? — why  not  be 
consistent  throughout  ? ” This  is  an  awkward 


100 


EDUCATION . 


looking  question.  Plausibly  implying  as  it 
does,  that  a system  of  complete  laissez-faire 
is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  doctrines  set 
forth,  it  seems  to  furnish  a disproof  of  them 
by  reductio  ad  absurdum.  In  truth,  how- 
ever, they  do  not,  when  rightly  understood, 
commit  us  to  any  such  untenable  position. 
A.  glance  at  the  physical  analogies  will  clearly 
show  this.  It  is  a general  law  of  all  life  that 
the  more  complex  the  organism  to  be  pro- 
duced, the  longer  the  period  during  which  it 
is  dependent  on  a parent  organism  for  food 
and  protection.  The  contrast  between  the 
minute,  rapidly-formed,  and  self-moving 
spore  of  a conferva,  and  the  slowly  devel- 
oped seed  of  a tree,  with  its  multiplied  envel- 
opes and  large  stock  of  nutriment  laid  by  to 
nourish  the  germ  during*  its  first  stages  of 
growth,  illustrates  this  law  in  its  application 
to  the  vegetable  world.  Among  animal  or- 
ganisms we  may  trace  it  in  a series  of  con- 
trasts from  the  monad  whose  spontaneously- 
divided  halves  are  as  self-sufficing  the  mo- 
ment after  their  separation  as  was  the  origi- 
nal whole;  up  to  man,  whose  offspring  not 
only  passes  through  a protracted  gestation, 
and  subsequently  long  depends  on  the  breast 
for  sustenance ; but  after  that  must  have  its 
food  artificially  administered;  must,  after  it 
has  learned  to  feed  itself,  continue  to  have 
bread,  clothing,  and  shelter  provided;  and 
does  not  acquire  the  power,  of  complete  self- 
support  until  a time  varying  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  years  after  its  birth.  Now  this  law 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


101 


applies  to  the  mind  as  to  the  body.  For 
mental  pabulum  also,  every  higher  creature, 
and  especially  man,  is  at  first  dependent  on 
adult  aid.  Lacking  the  ability  to  move 
about,  the  babe  is  as  powerless  to  get  mate- 
rials on  which  to  exercise  its  perceptions  as  it 
is  to  get  supplies  for  its  stomach.  Unable  to 
prepare  its  own  food,  it  is  in  like  manner  un- 
able to  reduce  many  kinds  of  knowledge  to  a 
fit  form  for  assimilation.  The  language 
through  which  all  higher  truths  are  to  be 
gained  it  wholly  derives  from  those  surround- 
ing it.  And  we  see  in  such  an  example  as 
the  Wild  Boy  of  Aveyron,  the  arrest  of  de- 
velopment that  results  when  no  help  is  re- 
ceived from  parents  and  nurses.  Thus,  in 
providing  from  day  to  day  the  right  kind  of 
facts,  prepared  in  the  right  manner,  and  giv- 
ing them  in  due  abundance  at  appropriate  in- 
tervals, there  is  as  much  scope  for  active  min- 
istration to  a child’s  mind  as  to  its  body.  In 
either  case  it  is  the  chief  function  of  parents 
to  see  that  the  conditions  requisite  to  growth 
are  maintained.  And,  as  in  supplying  ali- 
ment, and  clothing,  and  shelter,  they  may 
fulfil  this  function  without  at  all  interfering 
with  the  spontaneous  development  of  the 
limbs  and  viscera  either  in  their  order  or 
mode ; so  they  may  supply  sounds  for  imita- 
tion, objects  for  examination,  books  for  read- 
ing, problems  for  solution,  and,  if  they  use 
neither  direct  nor  indirect  coercion,  may  do 
this  without  in  any  way  disturbing  the  nor- 
mal process  of  mental  evolution;  or  rather. 


1"2 


EDUCATION. 


may  greatly  facilitate  that  process.  Hence 
the  admission  of  the  doctrines  enunciated 
does  not,  as  some  might  argue,  involve  the 
abandonment  of  all  teaching ; but  leaves  am- 
ple room  for  an  active  and  elaborate  course 
of  culture. 

Passing  from  generalities  to  special  consid- 
erations it  is  to  be  remarked  that  in  practice, 
the  Pestalozzian  system  seems  scarcely  to 
have  fulfilled  the  promise  of  its  theory.  We 
hear  of  children  not  at  all  interested  in  its 
lessons, — disgusted  with  them  rather;  and, 
so  far  as  we  can  gather,  the  Pestalozzian 
schools  have  not  turned  out  any  unusual  pro- 
portion of  distinguished  men, — if  even  they 
have  reached  the  average.  We  are  not  sur- 
prised at  this.  The  success  of  every  appli- 
ance depends  mainly  upon  the  intelligence 
with  which  it  is  used.  It  is  a trite  remark, 
that,  having  the  choicest  tools,  an  unskilful 
artisan  will  botch  his  work ; and  bad  teachers 
will  fail  even  with  the  best  methods.  In- 
deed, the  goodness  of  the  method  becomes  in 
such  case  a cause  of  failure ; as,  to  continue 
the  simile,  the  perfection  of  the  tool  becomes 
in  undisciplined  hands  a source  of  imperfec- 
tion in  results.  A simple  unchanging,  al- 
most mechanical  routine  of  tuition  may  be 
carried  out  by  the  commonest  intellects,  with 
such  small  beneficial  effect  as  it  is  capable  of 
producing;  but  a complete  system, — a system 
as  heterogeneous  in  its  appliances  as  the  mind 
in  its  faculties, — a system  proposing  a special 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION.  103 


means  for  each  special  end,  demands  for  its 
right  employment  powers  such  as  few  teachers 
possess.  The  mistress  of  a dame-school  can 
hear  spelling-lessons ; any  hedge-schoolmaster 
can  drill  boys  in  the  multiplication-table ; but 
to  teach  spelling  rightly  by  using  the  powers  of 
the  letters  instead  of  their  names,  or  to  instruct 
in  numerical  combinations  by  experimental 
synthesis,  a modicum  of  understanding  is 
needful : and  to  pursue  a like  rational  course 
throughout  the  entire  range  of  studies,  asks 
an  amount  of  judgment,  of  invention,  of 
intellectual  sympathy,  of  analytical  facul- 
ty, which  we  shall  never  see  applied  to  it 
while  the  tutorial  office  is  held  in  such  small 
esteem.  The  true  education  is  practicable 
only  to  the  true  philosopher.  Judge,  then, 
what  prospect  a philosophical  method  now 
has  of  being  acted  out ! Knowing  so  little  as 
we  yet  do  of  Psychology,  and  ignorant  as  our 
teachers  are  of  that  little,  what  chance  has  a 
system  which  requires  Psychology  for  its 
basis? 

Further  hindrance  and  discouragement  has 
arisen  from  confounding  the  Pestalozzian 
principle  with  the  forms  in  which  it  has  been 
embodied.  Because  particular  plans  have 
not  answered  expectation,  discredit  has  been 
cast  upon  the  doctrine  associated  with  them ; 
no  inquiry  being  made  whether  these  plans 
truly  conform  to  such  doctrine.  Judging  as 
usual  by  the  concrete  rather  than  the  ab- 
stract, men  have  blamed  the  theory  for  the 
bunglings  of  the  practice.  It  is  as  though 


104 


EDUCATION . 


Papin’s  futile  attempt  to  construct  a steam- 
engine  had  been  held  to  prove  that  steam 
could  not  be  used  as  a motive  power.  Let  it 
be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  while  right 
in  his  fundamental  ideas  Pestalozzi  was  not 
therefore  right  in  all  his  applications  of  them : 
and  we  believe  the  fact  to  be  that  he  was  oft- 
en wrong.  As  described  even  by  his  admir- 
ers, Pestalozzi  was  a man  of  partial  intuitions, 
a man  who  had  occasional  flashes  of  insight, 
rather  than  a man  of  systematic  thought. 
His  first  great  success  at  Stantz  was  achieved 
when  he  had  no  books  or  appliances  of  ordi- 
nary teaching,  and  when  “ the  only  object  of 
his  attention  was  to  find  out  at  each  moment 
what  instruction  his  children  stood  peculiarly 
in  need  of,  and  what  was  the  best  manner  of 
connecting  it  with  the  knowledge  they  already 
possessed.”  Much  of  his  power  was  due,  not 
to  calmly  reasoned-out  plans  of  culture,  but 
to  his  profound  sympathy,  which  gave  him 
an  instinctive  perception  of  childish  needs 
and  difficulties.  He  lacked  the  ability  logi- 
cally to  co-ordinate  and  develop  the  truths 
which  he  thus  from  time  to  time  laid  hold  of ; 
and  had  in  great  measure  to  leave  this  to  his 
assistants,  Kruesi,  Tobler,  Buss,  Niederer,  and 
Schmid.  The  result  is  that  in  their  details 
his  own  plans,  and  those  vicariously  devised, 
contain  numerous  crudities  and  inconsisten- 
cies. His  nursery-method,  described  in  ‘ ‘ The 
Mother’s  Manual,”  beginning  as  it  does  with 
a nomenclature  of  the  different  parts  of  the 
body,  and  proceeding  next  to  specify  their 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


105 


relative  positions,  and  next  their  connections, 
may  be  proved  not  at  all  in  accordance  with 
the  initial  stages  of  mental  evolution.  His 
process  of  teaching  the  mother  tongue  by  for- 
mal exercises  in  the  meanings  of  words  and 
in  the  construction  of  sentences,  is  quite 
needless,  and  must  entail  on  the  pupil  loss  of 
time,  labor,  and  happiness.  His  proposed 
mode  of  teaching  geography  is  utterly  un- 
pestalozzian.  And  often  where  his  plans  are 
essentially  sound  they  are  either  incomplete 
or  vitiated  by  some  remnant  of  the  old  regime. 
While,  therefore,  we  would  defend  in  its  en- 
tire extent  the  general  doctrine  which  Pes- 
talozzi  inaugurated,  we  think  great  evil  likely 
to  result  from  an  uncritical  reception  of  his 
specific  devices.  That  tendency  which  man- 
kind constantly  exhibit  to  canonize  the  forms 
and  practices  along  with  which  any  great 
truth  has  been  bequeathed  to  them, — their 
liability  to  prostrate  their  intellects  before  the 
prophet,  and  swear  by  his  every  word, — their 
proneness  to  mistake  the  clothing  of  the  idea 
for  the  idea  itself ; renders  it  needful  to  insist 
strongly  upon  the  distinction  between  the 
fundamental  principle  of  the  Pestalozzian 
system,  and  the  set  of  expedients  devised  for 
its  practice:  and  to  suggest  that  while  the 
one  may  be  considered  as  established,  the 
other  is  probably  nothing  but  an  adumbra- 
tion of  the  normal  course.  Indeed,  on  look- 
ing at  the  state  of  our  knowledge  we  may  be 
quite  sure  that  this  is  the  case.  Before  our 
educational  methods  can  be  made  to  harmo* 


106 


EDUCATION . 


nize  in  character  and  arrangement  with  the 
faculties  in  their  mode  and  order  of  unfold- 
ing, it  is  first  needful  that  we  ascertain  with 
some  completeness  how  the  faculties  do  un- 
fold. At  present  our  knowledge  of  the  matter 
extends  only  to  a few  general  notions.  These 
general  notions  must  he  developed  in  detail, — 
must  be  transformed  into  a multitude  of  spe- 
cific propositions,  before  we  can  be  said  to 
possess  that  science  on  which  the  art  of  edu- 
cation must  be  based.  And  then  when  we 
have  definitely  made  out  in  what  succession, 
and  in  what  combinations  the  mental  powers 
become  active,  it  remains  to  choose  out  of  the 
many  possible  ways  of  exercising  each  of 
them  that  which  best  conforms  to  its  natural 
mode  of  action.  Evidently,  therefore,  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  even  our  most  ad- 
vanced modes  of  teaching  are  the  right  ones, 
or  nearly  the  right  ones. 

Bearing  in  mind  then  this  distinction  be- 
tween the  principle  and  the  practice  of  Pesta- 
lozzi,  and  inferring  from  the  grounds  assigned 
that  the  last  must  necessarily  be  very  defec- 
tive, the  reader  will  rate  at  its  true  worth  the 
dissatisfaction  with  the  system  which  some 
have  expressed;  and  will  see  that  the  due  re- 
alization of  the  Pestalozzian  idea  remains  to 
be  achieved.  Should  he  argue,  however,  from 
what  has  just  been  said  that  no  such  realiza- 
tion is  at  present  practicable,  and  that  all  ef- 
fort ought  to  be  devoted  to  the  preliminary 
inquiry ; we  reply,  that  though  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  a scheme  of  culture  to  be  perfected 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION.  107 


either  in  matter  or  form  until  a rational  Psy- 
chology has  been  established,  it  is  possible, 
with  the  aid  of  certain  guiding  principles,  to 
make  empirical  approximations  towards  a 
perfect  scheme.  To  prepare  the  way  for  fur- 
ther research  we  will  now  specify  these  prin- 
ciples. Some  of  them  have  already  been 
more  or  less  distinctly  implied  in  the  forego- 
ing pages ; but  it  will  be  well  here  to  state 
them  all  in  logical  order. 

1.  That  in  education  we  should  proceed 
from  the  simple  to  the  complex  is  a truth 
which  has  always  been  to  some  extent  acted 
upon;  not  professedly,  indeed,  nor  by  any 
means  consistently.  The  mind  grows.  Like 
all  things  that  grow  it  progresses  from  the 
homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous;  and  a 
normal  training  system  being  an  objective 
counterpart  of  this  subjective  process,  must 
exhibit  the  like  progression.  Moreover,  re- 
garding it  from  this  point  of  view,  we  may 
see  that  this  formula  has  much  wider  appli- 
cations than  at  first  appears.  For  its  ration- 
ale involves  not  only  that  we  should  proceed 
from  the  single  to  the  combined  in  the  teach- 
ing of  each  branch  of  knowledge ; but  that  w^e 
should  do  the  like  with  knowledge  as  a whole. 
As  the  mind,  consisting  at  first  of  but  few  ac- 
tive faculties,  has  its  later-completed  facul- 
ties successively  awakened,  and  ultimately 
comes  to  have  all  its  faculties  in  simultaneous 
action ; it  follows  that  our  teaching  should  be- 
gin with  but  few  subjects  at  once,  and  sue- 


108 


EDUCATION. 


cessively  adding  to  these,  should  finally  carry 
on  all  subjects  abreast — that  not  only  in  its 
details  should  education  proceed  from  the 
simple  to  the  complex,  but  in  its  ensemble 
also. 

2.  To  say  that  our  lessons  ought  to  start 
from  the  concrete  and  end  in  the  abstract, 
may  be  considered  as  in  part  a repetition  of 
the  foregoing.  Nevertheless  it  is  a maxim 
that  needs  to  be  stated : if  with  no  other  view, 
then  with  the  view  of  showing  in  certain 
cases  what  are  truly  the  simple  and  the  com- 
plex. For  unfortunately  there  has  been 
much  misunderstanding  on  this  point.  Gen- 
eral formulas  which  men  have  devised  to  ex- 
press groups  of  details,  and  which  have  sev- 
erally simplified  their  conceptions  by  uniting 
many  facts  into  one  fact,  they  have  supposed 
must  simplify  the  conceptions  of  the  child 
also ; quite  f orgetting  that  a generalization  is 
simple  only  in  comparison  with  the  whole 
mass  of  particular  truths  it  comprehends— 
that  it  is  more  complex  than  any  one  of  these 
truths  taken  singly — that  only  after  many  of 
these  single  truths  have  been  acquired  does 
the  generalization  ease  the  memory  and  help 
the  reason — and  that  to  the  child  not  possess- 
ing  these  single  truths  it  is  necessarily  a mys- 
tery.  Thus  confounding  two  kinds  of  simpli- 
fication, teachers  have  constantly  erred  by 
setting  out  with  ‘ ‘ first  principles  ” : a proceed- 
ing essentially,  though  not  apparently,  at  va- 
riance with  the  primary  rule ; wdiich  implies 
that  the  mind  should  be  introduced  to  princi- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION \ 


109 


pies  through  the  medium  of  examples,  and  so 
should  be  led  from  the  particular  to  the  gen- 
eral— from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract. 

3.  The  education  of  the  child  must  accord 
both  in  mode  and  arrangement  with  the  edu- 
cation of  mankind  as  considered  historically ; 
or  in  other  Avords,  the  genesis  of  knowledge 
in  the  individual  must  follow  the  same  course 
as  the  genesis  of  knowledge  in  the  race.  To 
M.  Comte  we  believe  society  owes  the  enunci- 
ation of  this  doctrine— a doctrine  which  we 
may  accept  without  committing  ourselves  to 
his  theory  of  the  genesis  of  knowledge  either 
in  its  causes  or  its  order.  In  support  of  this 
doctrine  two  reasons  may  be  assigned,  either 
of  them  sufficient  to  establish  it.  One  is  de- 
ducible  from  the  law  of  hereditary  transmis- 
sion as  considered  in  its  wider  consequences. 
For  if  it  be  true  that  men  exhibit  likeness  to 
ancestry  both  in  aspect  and  character — if  it 
be  true  that  certain  mental  manifestations,  as 
insanity,  will  occur  in  successive  members  of 
the  same  family  at  the  same  age — if,  passing 
from  individual  cases  in  which  the  traits  of 
many  dead  ancestors  mixing  with  those  of  a 
few  living  ones  greatly  obscure  the  law,  we 
turn  to  national  types,  and  remark  how  the 
contrasts  between  them  are  persistent  from 
age  to  age — if  we  remember  that  these  re-' 
speetive  types  came  from  a common  stock, 
and  that  hence  the  present  marked  dif- 
ferences between  them  must  have  arisen 
from  the  action  of  modifying  circumstan- 
ces upon  successive  generations  who  sev- 


110 


EDUCATION. 


erally  transmitted  the  accumulated  effects 
to  their  descendants — if  we  find  the  differ- 
ences to  be  now  organic,  so  that  the  French 
child  grows  into  a French  man  even  when 
brought  up  among  strangers— and  if  the  gen- 
eral fact  thus  illustrated  is  true  of  the  whole 
nature,  intellect  inclusive ; then  it  follows  that 
if  there  be  an  order  in  which  the  human  race 
has  mastered  its  various  kinds  of  knowledge, 
there  will  arise  in  every  child  an  aptitude  to 
acquire  these  kinds  of  knowledge  in  the  same 
order.  So  that  even  were  the  order  intrinsi- 
cally indifferent,  it  would  facilitate  education 
to  lead  the  individual  mind  through  the  steps 
traversed  by  the  general  mind.  But  the  order 
is  not  intrinsically  indifferent ; and  hence  the 
fundamental  reason  why  education  should  be 
a repetition  of  civilization  in  little.  It  is  alike 
provable  that  the  historical  sequence  was,  in 
its  main  outlines,  a necessary  one ; and  that 
the  causes  which  determined  it  apply  to  the 
child  as  to  the  race.  Not  to  specify  these 
causes  in  detail,  it  will  suffice  here  to  point 
out  that  as  the  mind  of  humanity  placed  in  the 
midst  of  phenomena  and  striving  to  compre- 
hend them,  has,  after  endless  comparisons, 
speculations,  experiments,  and  theories, 
reached  its  present  knowledge  of  each  subject 
by  a specific  route ; it  may  rationally  be  in- 
ferred that  the  relationship  between  mind  and 
phenomena  is  such  as  to  prevent  this  knowl- 
edge from  being  reached  by  any  other  route ; 
and  that  as  each  child’s  mind  stands  in  this 
same  relationship  to  phenomena,  they  can  bo 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


Ill 


accessible  to  it  only  through  the  same  route. 
Hence  in  deciding  upon  the  right  method  of 
education,  an  inquiry  into  the  method  of  civ- 
ilization will  help  to  guide  us. 

4.  One  of  the  conclusions  to  which  such  an 
inquiry  leads  is,  that  in  each  branch  of  in- 
struction we  should  proceed  from  the  empiri- 
cal to  the  rational.  A leading  fact  in  human 
progress  is,  that  every  science  is  evolved  out 
of  its  corresponding  art.  It  results  from  the 
necessity  we  are  under,  both  individually  and 
as  a race,  of  reaching  the  abstract  by  way  of 
the  concrete,  that  there  must  be  practice  and 
an  accruing  experience  with  its  empirical  gen- 
eralizations, before  there  can  be  science. 
Science  is  organized  knowledge;  and  before 
knowledge  can  be  organized,  some  of  it  must 
first  be  possessed.  Every  study,  therefore, 
should  have  a purely  experimental  introduc- 
tion ; and  only  after  an  ample  fund  of  obser- 
vations has  been  accumulated,  should  reason- 
ing begin.  As  illustrative  applications  of  this 
rule,  we  may  instance  the  modern  course  of 
placing  grammar,  not  before  language,  but 
after  it ; or  the  ordinary  custom  of  prefacing 
perspective  by  practical  drawing.  By  and  by 
further  applications  of  it  will  be  indicated. 

5.  A second  corollary  from  the  foregoing 
general  principle,  and  one  which  cannot  be 
too  strenuously  insisted  upon,  is,  that  in  edu- 
cation the  process  of  self-development  should 
be  encouraged  to  the  fullest  extent.  Children 
should  be  led  to  make  their  own  investiga- 
tions, and  to  draw  their  own  inferences. 


112 


EDUCATION . 


They  should  be  told  as  little  as  possible,  and 
induced  to  discover  as  much  as  possible.  Hu- 
manity has  progressed  solely  by  self -instruc- 
tion; and  that  to  achieve  the  best  results, 
*each  mind  must  progress  somewhat  after  the 
same  fashion,  is  continually  proved  by  the 
marked  success  of  self-made  men.  Those'who 
have  been  brought  up  under  the  ordinary 
school-drill,  and  have  carried  away  with  them 
the  idea  that  education  is  practicable  only  in 
that  style,  will  think  it  hopeless  to  make  chil- 
dren their  own  teachers.  If,  however,  they 
will  call  to  mind  that  the  all-important  knowl- 
edge of  surrounding  objects  which  a child  gets 
in  its  early  years  is  got  without  help — if  they 
will  remember  that  the  child  is  self-taught  in 
the  use  of  its  mother  tongue — if  they  will  es- 
timate the  amount  of  that  experience  of  life, 
that  out-of -school  wisdom,  which  every  boy 
gathers  for  himself — if  they  will  mark  the  un- 
usual intelligence  of  the  uncared-for  London 
gamin , as  shown  in  all  the  directions  in  which 
his  faculties  have  been  tasked — if  further, 
they  will  think  how  many  minds  have  strug- 
gled up  unaided,  not  only  through  the  mys- 
teries of  our  irrationally  planned  curriculum, 
but  through  hosts  of  other  obstacles  besides ; 
they  will  find  it  a not  unreasonable  conclusion, 
that  if  the  subjects  be  put  before  him  in  right 
order  and  right  form,  any  pupil  of  ordinary 
capacity  will  surmount  his  successive  difficul- 
ties with  but  little  assistance.  Who  indeed 
can  watch  the  ceaseless  observation,  and  in- 
quiry, and  inference  going  on  in  a child’s 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


US 


mind,  or  listen  to  its  acute  remarks  on  matters 
within  the  range  of  its  faculties,  without  per- 
ceiving that  these  powers  which  it  manifests, 
if  brought  to  bear  systematically  upon  any 
studies  ivithin  the  same  range , would  readily 
master  them  without  help  ? This  need  for  per- 
petual telling  is  the  result  of  our  stupidity, 
not  of  the  child’s.  We  drag  it  away  from  the 
facts  in  which  it  is  interested,  and  which  it  is 
actively  assimilating  of  itself ; we  put  before 
it  facts  far  too  complex  for  it  to  understand, 
and  therefore  distasteful  to  it ; finding  that  it 
will  not  voluntarily  acquire  these  facts,  we 
thrust  them  into  its  mind  by  force  of  threats 
and  punishment ; by  thus  denying  the  knowl- 
edge it  craves,  and  cramming  it  with  knowl- 
edge it  cannot  digest,  we  produce  a morbid 
state  of  its  faculties,  and  a consequent  disgust 
for  knowledge  in  general ; and  when,  as  aore- 
sult  partly  of  the  stolid  indolence  we  have 
brought  on,  and  partly  of  still  continued  un- 
fitness in  its  studies,  the  child  can  understand 
nothing  without  explanation,  and  becomes  a 
mere  passive  recipient  of  our  instruction,  we 
infer  that  education  must  necessarily  be  car- 
ried on  thus.  Having  by  our  method  induced 
helplessness,  we  straightway  make  the  help- 
lessness a reason  for  our  method.  Clearly 
then  the  experience  of  pedagogues  cannot  ra- 
tionally be  quoted  against  the  doctrine  we  are 
defending.  And  whoever  sees  this  will  see 
that  we  may  safely  follow  the  method  of  na- 
ture throughout — may,  by  a skilful  ministra- 
tion, make  the  mind  as  self-developing  in  its 
8 


114 


EDUCATION. 


later  stages  as  it  is  in  its  earlier  ones ; and  that 
only  by  doing  this  can  we  produce  the  high- 
est power  and  activity. 

6.  As  a final  test  by  which  to  judgp  any 
plan  of  culture,  should  come  the  question, — 
Does  it  create  a pleasurable  excitement  in  the 
pupils?  When  in  doubt  whether  a particular 
mode  or  arrangement  is  or  is  not  more  in  har- 
mony with  the  foregoing  principles  than  some 
other,  we  may  safely  abide  by  this  criterion. 
Even  when,  as  considered  theoretically,  the 
proposed  course  seems  the  best,  yet  if  it  pro- 
duce no  interest,  or  less  interest  than  another 
course,  we  should  relinquish  it ; for  a child’s 
intellectual  instincts  are  more  trustworthy 
than  our  reasonings.  In  respect  to  the  know- 
ing faculties,  we  may  confidently  trust  in  the 
general  law,  that  under  normal  conditions, 
healthful  action  is  pleasurable,  while  action 
which  gives  pain  is  not  healthful.  Though 
at  present  very  incompletely  conformed  to  by 
the  emotional  nature,  yet  by  the  intellectual 
nature,  or  at  least  by  those  parts  of  it  which 
the  child  exhibits,  this  law  is  almost  wholly 
conformed  to.  The  repugnances  to  this  and 
that  study  which  vex  the  ordinary  teacher, 
are  not  innate,  but  result  from  his  unwise 
system.  Fellenberg  says,  “ Experience  has 
taught  me  that  indolence  in  young  persons  is 
so  directly  opposite  to  their  natural  disposi- 
tion to  activity,  that  unless  it  is  the  conse- 
quence of  bad  education,  it  is  almost  invari- 
ably connected  with  some  constitutional  de- 
fect. ” And  the  spontaneous  activity  to  which 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


115 


children  are  thus  prone,  is  simply  the  pursuit 
of  those  pleasures  which  the  healthful  exer- 
cise of  the  faculties  gives.  It  is  true  that 
some  of  the  higher  mental  powers  as  yet  but 
little  developed  in  the  race,  and  congenitally 
possessed  in  any  considerable  degree  only  by 
the  most  advanced,  are  indisposed  to  the 
amount  of  exertion  required  of  them.  But 
'these,  in  virtue  of  their  very  complexity,  will 
in  a normal  course  of  culture,  come  last  into 
exercise,  and  will  therefore  have  no  demands 
made  upon  them  until  the  pupil  has  arrived 
at  an  age  when  ulterior  motives  can  be 
brought  into  play,  and  an  indirect  pleasure 
made  to  counterbalance  a direct  displeasure. 
With  all  faculties  lower  than  these,  however, 
the  direct  gratification  consequent  on  activity 
is  the  normal  stimulus ; and  under  good  man- 
agement the  only  needful  stimulus.  When 
we  are  obliged  to  fall  back  on  some  other,  we 
must  take  the  fact  as  evidence  that  we  are  on 
the  wrong  track.  Experience  is  daily  show- 
ing with  greater  clearness  that  there  is  always 
a method  to  be  found  productive  of  interest — 
even  of  delight;  and  it  ever  turns  out  that 
this  is  the  method  proved  by  all  other  tests  to 
be  the  right  one. 

With  most,  these  guiding  principles  will 
weigh  but  little  if  left  in  this  abstract  form. 
Partly,  therefore,  to  exemplify  their  applica- 
tion, and  partly  with  a view  of  making  sun- 
dry specific  suggestions,  we  propose  now  to 
pass  from  the  theory  of  education  to  the  prac- 
tice of  it. 


116 


EDUCATION. 


It  was  the  opinion  of  Pestalozzi — an  opinion 
which  has  ever  since  his  day  been  gaining 
ground — that  education  of  some  kind  should 
begin  from  the  cradle.  Whoever  has  watched 
with  any  discernment,  the  wide-eyed  gaze  of 
the  infant  at  surrounding  objects,  knows  very 
well  that  education  does  begin  thus  early, 
whether  we  intend  it  or  not ; and  that  these 
fingerings  and  suckings  of  everything  it  can 
lay  hold  of,  these  open-mouthed  listenings  to 
every  sound,  are  the  first  steps  in  the  series 
which  ends  in  the  discovery  of  unseen  planets, 
the  invention  of  calculating  engines,  the  pro- 
duction of  great  paintings,  or  the  composition 
of  symphonies  and  operas.  This  activity  of 
the  faculties  from  the  very  first  being  sponta- 
neous and  inevitable,  the  question  is  whether 
we  shall  supply  in  due  variety  the  materials 
on  which  they  may  exercise  themselves ; and 
to  the  question  so  put,  none  but  an  affirmative 
answer  can  be  given.  As  before  said,  how- 
ever, agreement  with  Pestalozzi’s  theory  does 
not  involve  agreement  with  his  practice ; and 
here  occurs  a case  in  point.  Treating  of  in- 
struction in  spelling  he  says : — 

“The  spelling-book  ought,  therefore,  to  contain  all  the 
sounds  of  the  language,  and  these  ought  to  be  taught  in  every 
family  from  the  earliest  infancy.  The  child  who  learns  his 
spelling-book  ought  to  repeat  them  to  the  infant  in  the  cradle, 
before  it  is  able  to  pronounce  even  one  of  them,  so  that  they 
may  be  deeply  impressed  upon  its  mind  by  frequent  repeti- 
tion.” 

Joining  this  with  the  suggestions  for  “a 
nursery-method,”  as  set  down  in  his  “Moth- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 117 


er's  Manual,”  in  which  he  makes  the  names, 
positions,  connections,  numbers,  properties, 
and  uses  of  the  limbs  and  body  his  first  les- 
sons, it  becomes  clear  that  Pestalozzi’s  notions 
on  early  mental  development  were  too  crude 
to  enable  him  to  devise  judicious  planes.  Let 
us  inquire  into  the  course  which  Psychology 
dictates. 

The  earliest  impressions  which  the  mind  can 
assimilate,  are  those  given  to  it  by  the  un- 
decomposable  sensations — resistance,  light, 
sound,  etc.  Manifestly  decomposable  states 
of  consciousness  cannot  exist  before  the  states 
of  consciousness  out  of  which  they  are  com- 
posed. There  can  be  no  idea  of  form  un- 
til some  familiarity  with  light  in  its  grada- 
tions and  qualities,  or  resistance  in  its  differ- 
ent intensities,  has  been  acquired ; for,  as  has 
been  long  known,  we  recognize  visible  form 
by  means  of  varieties  of  light,  and  tangible 
form  by  means  of  varieties  of  resistance.  Sim- 
ilarly, no  articulate  sound  is  cognizable  until 
the  inarticulate  sounds  which  go  to  make  it 
up  have  been  learned.  And  thus  must  it  be 
in  every  other  case.  Following,  therefore,  the 
necessary  law  of  progression  from  the  simple 
to  the  complex,  we  should  provide  for  the  in- 
fant a sufficiency  of  objects  presenting  differ- 
ent degrees  and  kinds  of  resistance,  a suffi- 
ciency of  objects  reflecting  different  amounts 
and  qualities  of  light,  and  a sufficiency  of 
sounds  contrasted  in  their  loudness,  their 
pitch  and  their  timbre.  How  fully  this  a 
priori  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  infantile  in- 


113 


EDUCATION . 


stincts  all  will  see  on  being  reminded  of  the 
delight  which  every  young  child  has  in  biting 
its  toys,  in  feeling  its  brother’s  bright  jacket- 
buttons,  and  pulling  papa’s  whiskers — how 
absorbed  it  becomes  in  gazing  at  any  gaudily 
painted  object,  to  which  it  applies  the  word 
“ pretty,”  when  it  can  pronounce  it,  wholly  in 
virtue  of  the  bright  colors — and  how  its  face 
broadens  into  a laugh  at  the  tattlings  of  its 
nurse,  the  snapping  of  a visitor’s  fingers,  or 
any  sound  which  it  has  not  before  heard. 
Fortunately,  the  ordinary  practices  of  the 
nursery  fulfil  these  early  requirements  of  edu- 
cation to  a considerable  degree.  Much,  how- 
ever, remains  to  be  done ; and  it  is  of  more 
importance  that  it  should  be  done  than  at 
first  appears.  Every  faculty  during  the  pe- 
riod of  its  greatest  activity — the  period  in 
which  it  is  spontaneously  evolving  itself — is 
capable  of  receiving  more  vivid  impressions 
than  at  any  other  period.  Moreover,  as  these 
simplest  elements  must  eventually  be  mas- 
tered, and  as  the  mastery  of  them  whenever 
achieved  must  take  time,  it  becomes  an  econ- 
omy of  time  to  occupy  this  first  stage  of  child- 
hood, during  which  no  other  intellectual  ac- 
tion is  possible,  in  gaining  a complete  famil- 
iarity with  them  in  all  their  modifications. 
Add  to  which,  that  both  temper  and  health 
will  be  improved  by  the  continual  gratifica- 
tion resulting  from  a due  supply  of  these  im- 
pressions which  every  child  so  greedily  assim- 
ilates. Space,  could  it  be  spared,  might  here 
be  well  filled  by  some  suggestions  towards  a 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


119 


more  systematic  ministration  to  these  sim- 
plest of  the  perceptions.  But  it  must  suffice 
to  point  out  that  any  such  ministration  ought 
to  be  based  upon  the  general  truth  that  in  the 
development  of  every  faculty,  markedly  com 
trasted  impressions  are  the  first  to  be  distim 
guished : that  hence  sounds  greatly  differing 
in  loudness  and  pitch,  colors  very  remote 
from  each  other,  and  substances  widely  unlike 
in  hardness  or  texture,  should  be  the  first  sup- 
plied ; and  that  in  each  case  the  progression 
must  be  by  slow  degrees  to  impressions  more 
nearly  allied. 

Passing  on  to  object-lessons,  which  mani- 
festly form  a natural  continuation  of  this 
primary  culture  of  the  senses,  it  is  to  be  re- 
marked, that  the  system  commonly  pursued 
is  wholly  at  variance  with  the  method  of  na- 
ture, as  alike  exhibited  in  infancy,  in  adult 
life,  and  in  the  course  of  civilization.  “The 
child,”  says  M.  Marcel,  “must  be  shown  how 
all  the  parts  of  an  object  are  connected,  etc. ; ” 
and  the  various  manuals  of  these  object-les- 
sons severally  contain  lists  of  the  facts  which 
the  child  is  to  be  told  respecting  each  of  the 
things  put  before  it.  Now  it  needs  but  a 
glance  at  the  daily  life  of  the  infant  to  see 
that  all  the  knowledge  of  things  which  is 
gained  before  the  acquirement  of  speech,  is 
self-gained — that  the  qualities  of  hardness  and 
weight  associated  with  certain  visual  appear- 
ances, the  possession  of  particular  forms  and 
colors  by  particular  persons,  the  production 
of  special  sounds  by  animals  of  special  as- 


120 


EDUCATION. 


pects,  are  phenomena  which  it  observes  for 
itself.  In  manhood  too,  when  there  are  no 
longer  teachers  at  hand,  the  observations  and 
inferences  required  for  daily  guidance,  must 
be  made  unhelped ; and  success  in  life  depends 
upon  the  accuracy  and  completeness  with 
which  they  are  made.  Is  it  probable  then, 
that  while  the  process  displayed  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  humanity  at  large,  is  repeated  alike 
by  the  infant  and  the  man,  a reverse  process 
must  be  followed  during  the  period  between 
infancy  and  manhood?  and  that  too,  even  in 
so  simple  a thing  as  learning  the  properties 
of  objects?  Is  it  not  obvious,  on  the  contrary, 
that  one  method  must  be  pursued  throughout? 
And  is  not  nature  perpetually  thrusting  this 
method  upon  us,  if  we  had  but  the  wit  to  see 
it,  and  the  humility  to  adopt  it?  What  can 
be  more  manifest  than  the  desire  of  children 
for  intellectual  sympathy?  Mark  how  the 
infant  sitting  on  your  knee  thrusts  into  your 
face  the  toy  it  holds,  that  you  too  may  look 
at  it.  See  when  it  makes  a creak  with  its  wet 
finger  on  the  table,  how  it  turns  and  looks  at 
you;  does  it  again,  and  again  looks  at  you; 
thus  saying  as  clearly  as  it  can — u Hear  this 
new  sound.”  Watch  how  the  elder  children 
come  into  the  room  exclaiming — “Mamma, 
see  what  a curious  thing,”  “Mamma,  look  at 
this,”  “Mamma,  look  at  that;”  and  would 
continue  the  habit,  did  not  the  silly  mann  a 
tell  them  not  to  tease  her.  Observe  how, 
when  out  with  the  nurse-maid,  each  little  one 
runs  up  to  her  with  the  new  flower  it  has 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


121 


gathered,  to  show  her  how  pretty  it  is,  and  to 
get  her  also,  to  say  it  is  pretty.  Listen  to  the 
eager  volubility  with  which  every  urchin  de- 
scribes any  novelty  he  has  been  to  see,  if  only 
he  can  find  some  one  who  will  attend  with 
any  interest.  Does  not  the  induction  lie  on 
the  surface?  Is  it  not  clear  that  we  must  con- 
form our  course  to  these  intellectual  instincts 
— that  we  must  just  systematize  the  natural 
process — that  we  must  listen  to  all  the  child 
has  to  tell  us  .about  each  object,  must  induce 
it  to  say  everything  it  can  think  of  about 
such  object,  must  occasionally  draw  its  atten- 
tion to  facts  it  has  not  yet  observed,  with  the 
view  of  leading  it  to  notice  them  itself  when- 
ever they  recur,  and  must  go  on  by  and  by  to 
indicate  or  supply  new  series  of  things  for  a 
like  exhaustive  examination?  See  the  way  in 
which,  on  this  method,  the  intelligent  mother 
conducts  her  lessons.  Step  by  step  she  famil- 
iarizes her  little  boy  with  the  names  of  the 
simpler  attributes,  hardness,  softness,  color, 
taste,  size,  etc. , in  doing  which  she  finds  him 
eagerly  help  by  bringing  this  to  show  her  that 
it  is  red,  and  the  other  to  make  her  feel  that 
it  is  hard,  as  fast  as  she  gives  him  words  for 
these  properties.  Each  additional  property, 
as  she  draws  bis  attention  to  it  in  some  fresh 
thing  which  he  brings  her,  she  takes  care  to 
mention  in  connection  with  those  he  already 
knows;  so  that  by  the  natural  tendency  to 
imitate,  he  may  get  into  the  habit  of  repeat- 
ing them  one  after  another.  Gradually  as 
there  occur  cases  in  which  he  omits  to  name 


122 


EDUCATION. 


one  or  more  of  the  properties  he  has  become 
acquainted  with,  she  introduces  the  practice 
of  asking  him  whether  there  is  not  something 
more  that  he  can  tell  her  about  the  thing  he 
has  got.  Probably  he  does  not  understand. 
After  letting  him  puzzle  awhile  she  tells  him ; 
perhaps  laughing  at  him  at  him  a little  for 
his  failure.  A few  recurrences  of  this,  and 
he  perceives  what  is  to  be  done.  When  next 
she  says  she  knows  something  more  about  the 
object  than  he  has  told  her,  his  pride  is  roused ; 
he  looks  at  it  intently ; he  thinks  over  all  that 
he  has  heard ; and  the  problem  being  easy, 
presently  finds  it  out.  He  is  full  of  glee  at 
his  success,  and  she  sympathizes  with  him. 
In  common  with  every  child,  he  delights  in 
the  discovery  of  his  powers.  He  wishes  for 
more  victories,  and  goes  in  quest  of  more 
things  about  which  to  tell  her.  As  his  facul- 
ties unfold  she  adds  quality  after  quality  to 
his  list : progressing  from  hardness  and  soft- 
ness to  roughness  and  smoothness,  from  color 
to  polish,  from  simple  bodies  to  composite 
ones — thus  constantly  complicating  the  prob- 
lem as  he  gains  competence,  constantly  tax- 
ing his  attention  and  memory  to  a greater  ex- 
tent, constantly  maintaining  his  interest  by 
supplying  him  with  new  impressions  such  as 
his  mind  can  assimilate,  and  constantly  grati- 
fying him  by  conquests  over  such  small  diffi- 
culties as  he  can  master.  In  doing  this  she 
is  manifestly  but  following  out  that  sponta- 
neous process  that  was  going  on  during  a still 
earlier  period — simply  aiding  self-evolution; 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION.  123 


and  is  aiding  it  in  the  mode  suggested  by  the 
boy’s  instinctive  behavior  to  her.  Manifestly, 
too,  the  course  she  is  pursuing  is  the  one  best 
calculated  to  establish  a habit  of  exhaustive 
observation ; which  is  the  professed  aim  of 
these  lessons.  To  tell  a child  this  and  to  show 
it  the  other,  is  not  to  teach  it  how  to  observe, 
but  to  make  it  a mere  recipient  of  another’s 
observations:  a proceeding  which  weakens 
rather  than  strengthens  its  powers  of  self- 
instruction — which  deprives  it  of  the  pleas- 
ures resulting  from  successful  activity — which 
presents  this  all-attractive  knowledge  under 
the  aspect  of  formal  tuition — and  which  thus 
generates  that  indifference  and  even  disgust 
with  which  these  object-lessons  are  not  un- 
frequently  regarded.  On  the  other  hand,  to 
pursue  the  course  above  described  is  simply 
to  guide  the  intellect  to  its  appropriate  food ; 
to  join  with  the  intellectual  appetites  their 
natural  adjuncts — amour  propre  and  the  de- 
sire for  sympathy ; to  induce  by  the  union  of 
all  these  an  intensity  of  attention  which  in- 
sures perceptions  alike  vivid  and  complete ; 
and  to  habituate  the  mind  from  the  beginning 
to  that  practice  of  self-help  which  it  must 
ultimately  follow. 

Object-lessons  should  not  only  be  carried 
on  after  quite  a different  fashion  from  that 
commonly  pursued,  but  should  be  extended 
to  a range  of  things  far  wider,  and  continue 
to  a period  far  later,  than  now.  They  should 
not  be  limited  to  the  contents  of  the  house ; 
but  should  include  those  of  the  fields  and 


124 


EDUCATION . 


hedges,  the  quarry  and  the  sea-shore.  They 
should  not  cease  with  early  childhood;  but 
should  he  so  kept  up  during  youth  as  insen- 
sibly to  merge  into  the  investigations  of  the 
naturalist  and  the  man  of  science.  Here 
again  we  have  but  to  follow  nature’s  leadings. 
Where  can  be  seen  an  intenser  delight  than 
that  of  children  picking  up  new  flowers  and 
watching  new  insects,  or  hoarding  pebbles 
and  shells?  And  who  is  there  but  perceives 
that  by  sympathizing  with  them  they  may  be 
led  on  to  any  extent  of  inquiry  into  the  qual- 
ities and  structures  of  these  things?  Every 
botanist  who  has  had  children  with  him  in 
the  woods  and  the  lanes  must  have  noticed 
how  eagerly  they  joined  in  his  pursuits,  how 
keenly  they  searched  out  plants  for  him,  how 
intently  they  watched  whilst  he  examined 
them,  how  they  overwhelmed  him  with  ques- 
tions. The  consistent  follower  of  Bacon — the 
“ servant  and  interpreter  of  nature,”  will  see 
that  we  ought  modestly  to  adopt  the  course 
of  culture  thus  indicated.  Having  gained 
due  familiarity  with  the  simpler  properties  of 
inorganic  objects,  the  child  should  by  the 
same  process  be  led  on  to  a like  exhaustive 
examination  of  the  things  it  picks  up  in  its 
daily  walks — the  less  complex  facts  they  pre- 
sent being  alone  noticed  at  first:  in  plants, 
the  color,  number,  and  forms  of  the  petals 
and  shapes  of  the  stalks  and  leaves:  in  in- 
sects, the  numbers  of  the  wings,  legs,  and  an- 
tennae, and  their  colors.  As  these  become 
fully  appreciated  and  invariably  observed, 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION.  125 


further  facts  may  be  successively  introduced : 
in  the  one  case,  the  numbers  of  stamens  and 
pistils,  the  forms  of  the  flowers,  whether  ra- 
dial or  bilateral  in  symmetry,  the  arrange- 
ment and  character  of  the  leaves,  whether 
opposite  or  alternate,  stalked  or  sessile, 
smooth  or  hairy,  serrated,  toothed,  or  cre- 
nate;  in  the  other,  the  divisions  of  the  body, 
the  segments  of  the  abdomen,  the  markings 
of  the  wings,  the  number  of  joints  in  the  legs, 
and  the  forms  of  the  smaller  organs — the  sys- 
tem pursued  throughout  being  that  of  making 
it  the  child’s  ambition  to  say  respecting  every- 
thing it  finds,  all  that  can  be  said.  Then  when 
a fit  age  has  been  reached,  the  means  of  pre- 
serving these  plants  which  have  become  so 
interesting  in  virtue  of  the  knowledge  ob- 
tained of  them,  may  as  a great  favor  be  sup- 
plied ; and  eventually,  as  a still  greater  favor, 
may  also  be  supplied  the  apparatus  needful 
for  keeping  the  larvae  of  our  common  butter- 
flies and  moths  through  their  transformations 
—a  practice  which,  as  we  can  personally  tes- 
tify, yields  the  highest  gratification ; is  con- 
tinued with  ardor  for  years ; when  joined  with 
the  formation  of  an  entomological  collection, 
adds  immense  interest  to  Saturday-afternoon 
rambles;  and  forms  an  admirable  introduc- 
tion to  the  study  of  physiology. 

We  are  quite  prepared  to  hear  from  many 
that  all  this  is  throwing  away  time  and  en- 
ergy ; and  that  children  would  be  much  better 
occupied  in  writing  their  copies  or  learning 
their  pence-tables,  and  so  fitting  themselves 


126 


EDUCATION . 


for  the  business  of  life.  We  regret  that  such 
crude  ideas  of  what  constitutes  education  and 
such  a narrow  conception  of  utility,  should 
still  be  generally  prevalent.  Saying  nothing 
on  the  need  for  a systematic  culture  of  the 
perceptions  and  the  value  of  the  practices 
above  inculcated  as  subserving  that  need,  we 
are  prepared  to  defend  them  even  on  the 
score  of  the  knowledge  gained.  If  men  are  to 
be  mere  cits,  mere  porers  over  ledgers,  with 
no  ideas  beyond  their  trades— if  it  is  well  that 
they  should  be  as  the  cockney  whose  concep- 
tion of  rural  pleasures  extends  no  further  than 
sitting  in  a tea-garden  smoking  pipes  and 
drinking  porter ; or  as  the  squire  who  thinks 
of  woods  as  places  for  shooting  in,  of  unculti- 
vated plants  as  nothing  but  weeds,  and  who 
classifies  animals  into  game,  vermin,  and 
stock — then  indeed  it  is  needless  for  men  to 
learn  anything  that  does  not  directly  help  to 
replenish  the  till  and  fill  the  larder.  But  if 
there  is  a more  worthy  aim  for  us  than  to  be 
drudges — if  there  are  other  uses  in  the  things 
around  us  than  their  power  to  bring  money — 
if  there  are  higher  faculties  to  be  exercised 
than  acquisitive  and  sensual  ones — if  the 
pleasures  which  poetry  and  art  and  science 
and  philosophy  can  bring  are  of  any  moment 
— then  is  it  desirable  that  the  instinctive  in- 
clination which  every  child  shows  to  observe 
natural  beauties  and  investigate  natural  phe- 
nomena should  be  encouraged.  But  this  gross 
utilitarianism  which  is  content  to  come  into 
the  world  and  quit  it  again  without  knowing 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION.  127 


what  kind  of  a world  it  is  or  what  it  contains, 
may  be  met  on  its  own  ground.  It  will  by 
and  by  be  found  that  a knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  life  is  more  important  than  any  other 
knowledge  whatever — that  the  laws  of  life 
include  not  only  all  bodily  and  mental  pro- 
cesses, but  by  implication  all  the  transactions 
of  the  house  and  the  street,  all  commerce,  all 
politics,  all  morals — and  that  therefore  with- 
out a due  acquaintance  with  them  neither 
personal  nor  social  conduct  can  be  rightly  reg- 
ulated. It  will  eventually  be  seen  too,  that 
the  laws  of  life  are  essentially  the  same 
throughout  the  whole  organic  creation ; and 
further,  that  they  cannot  be  properly  under- 
stood in  their  complex  manifestations  until 
they  have  been  studied  in  their  simpler  ones. 
And  when  this  is  seen,  it  will  be  also  seen  that 
in  aiding  the  child  to  acquire  the  out-of-door 
information  for  which  it  shows  so  great  an 
avidity,  and  in  encouraging  the  acquisition 
of  such  information  throughout  youth,  we 
are  simply  inducing  it  to  store  up  the  raw 
material  for  future  organization — the  facts 
that  will  one  day  bring  home  to  it  with  due 
force  those  great  generalizations  of  science 
by  which  actions  may  be  rightly  guided. 

The  spreading  recognition  of  drawing  as  an 
element  of  education,  is  one  amongst  many 
signs  of  the  more  rational  views  on  mental 
culture  now  beginning  to  prevail.  Once 
more  it  may  be  remarked  that  teachers  are  at 
length  adopting  the  course  which  nature  has 
for  ages  been  pressing  upon  their  notice.  The 


123 


EDUCATION. 


spontaneous  efforts  made  by  children  to  rep- 
resent  the  men,  houses,  trees,  and  animals 
around  them — on  a slate  if  they  can  get  noth- 
ing better,  or  with  lead-pencil  on  paper,  if 
they  can  beg  them — are  familiar  to  all.  To 
be  shown  through  a picture-book  is  one  of 
their  highest  gratifications;  and  as  usual, 
their  strong  imitative  tendency  presently 
generates  in  them  the  ambition  to  make  pict- 
ures themselves  also.  This  attempt  to  depict 
the  striking  things  they  see  is  a further  in- 
stinctive exercise  of  the  perceptions — a means 
whereby  still  greater  accuracy  and  complete- 
ness of  observation  is  induced.  And  alike  by 
seeking  to  interest  us  in  their  discoveries  of 
the  sensible  properties  of  things,  and  by  their 
endeavors  to  draw,  they  solicit  from  us  just 
that  kind  of  culture  which  they  most  need. 

Had  teachers  been  guided  by  nature’s 
hints  not  only  in  the  making  of  drawing  a 
part  of  education,  but  in  the  choice  of  their 
modes  of  teaching  it,  they  would  have  done 
still  better  than  they  have  done.  What  is  it 
that  the  child  first  tries  to  represent?  Things 
that  are  large,  things  that  are  attractive  in 
color,  things  round  which  its  pleasurable  as- 
sociations most  cluster — human  beings  from 
whom  it  has  received  so  many  emotions,  cows 
and  dogs  which  interest  by  the  many  phenom- 
ena they  present,  houses  that  are  hourly  visible 
and  strike  by  their  size  and  contrast  of  parts. 
And  which  of  all  the  processes  of  representa- 
tion gives  it  most  delight?  Coloring.  Paper 
and  pencil  are  good  in  default  of  something 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 129 


better ; but  a box  of  paints  and  a brush — these 
are  the  treasures.  The  drawing  of  outlines 
immediately  becomes  secondary  to  coloring — 
is  gone  through  mainly  with  a view  to  the 
coloring ; and  if  leave  can  be  got  to  color  a 
book  of  prints,  how  great  is  the  favor?  Now, 
ridiculous  as  such  a position  will  seem  to 
drawing-masters,  who  postpone  coloring  and 
who  teach  form  by  a dreary  discipline  of 
copying  lines,  we  believe  that  the  course  of 
culture  thus  indicated  is  the  right  one.  That 
priority  of  color  to  form,  which,  as  already 
pointed  out,  has  a psychological  basis,  and  in 
virtue  of  which  psychological  basis  arises  this 
strong  preference  in  the  child,  should  bo  rec- 
ognized from  the  very  beginning;  and  from 
the  very  beginning  also  the  things  imitated 
should  be  real.  That  greater  delight  in  color 
which  is  not  only  conspicuous  in  children 
but  persists  in  most  persons  throughout 
life,  should  be  continuously  employed  as 
the  natural  stimulus  to  the  mastery  of  the 
compar,  tively  difficult  and  unattractive 
form — a lould  be  the  prospective  reward  for 
the  acl  ievement  of  form.  And  these  in- 
stinctive attempts  to  represent  interesting 
actualities  should  be  all  along  encouraged ; in 
the  conviction  that  as,  by  a widening  expe- 
rience, smaller  and  more  practicable  objects 
become  interesting  they  too  will  be  attempt- 
ed ; and  that  so  a gradual  approximation  will 
be  made  towards  imitations  having  some  re- 
semblance to  the  realities.  No  matter  how 
grotesque  the  shapes  produced:  no  matter 
9 


130 


EDUCATION. 


how  daubed  and  glaring  the  colors.  The 
question  is  not  whether  the  child  is  producing 
good  drawings : the  question  is,  whether  it  is 
developing  its  faculties.  It  has  first  to  gain 
some  command  over  its  fingers,  some  crude 
notions  of  likeness ; and  this  practice  is  better 
than  any  other  for  these  ends ; seeing  that  it 
is  the  spontaneous  and  the  interesting  one. 
During  these  early  years,  be  it  remembered, 
no  formal  drawing-lessons  are  possible : shall 
we  therefore  repress,  or  neglect  to  aid,  these 
efforts  at  self-culture?  or  shall  we  encourage 
and  guide  them  as  normal  exercises  of  the 
perceptions  and  the  powers  of  manipulation? 
If  by  the  supply  of  cheap  woodcuts  to  be  col- 
ored, and  simple  contour-maps  to  have  their 
boundary  lines  tinted,  we  can  not  only  pleas- 
urably draw  out  the  faculty  of  color,  but  can 
incidentally  produce  some  familiarity  with 
the  outlines  of  things  and  countries,  and 
some  ability  to  move  the  brush  steadily ; and 
if  by  the  supply  of  temptingly-painted  objects 
we  can  keep  up  the  instinctive  practice  of 
making  representations,  however  rough,  it 
must  happen  that  by  the  time  drawing  is 
commonly  commenced  there  will  exist  a fa- 
cility that  would  else  have  been  absent. 
Time  will  have  been  gained;  and  trouble, 
both  to  teacher  and  pupil,  saved. 

From  all  that  has  been  said,  it  may  be 
readily  inferred  that  we  wholly  disapprove 
of  the  practice  of  drawing  from  copies;  and 
still  more  so  of  that  formal  discipline  in  mak- 
ing straight  lines  and  curved  lines  and  com- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


131 


pound  lines,  with  which  it  is  the  fashion  of 
some  teachers  to  begin.  We  regret  to  find 
that  the  Society  of  Arts  has  recently,  in  its 
series  of  manuals  on  “ Rudimentary  Art-In- 
struction,” given  its  countenance  to  an  ele- 
mentary drawing-book,  which  is  the  most  vi- 
cious in  principle  that  we  have  seen.  We  re- 
fer to  the  ‘ ‘ Outline  from  Outline,  or  from  the 
Flat,”  by  John  Bell,  sculptor.  As  expressed 
in  the  prefatory  note,  this  publication  pro- 
poses “to  place  before  the  student  a simple, 
yet  logical  mode  of  instruction;  ” and  to  this 
end  sets  out  with  a number  of  definitions 
thus : — 

“ A simple  line  in  drawing  is  a thin  mark  drawn  from  one 
point  to  another. 

“ Lines  may  be  divided,  as  to  their  nature  in  drawing,  into 
two  classes: — 

“ 1.  Straight , which  are  marks  that  go  the  shortest  road 
between  two  points,  as  A B. 

“2.  Or  Curved,  which  are  marks  which  do  not  go  the 
shortest  road  between  two  points,  as  C D.” 

And  so  the  introduction  progresses  to  hori- 
zontal lines,  perpendicular  lines,  oblique  lines, 
angles  of  the  several  kinds,  and  the  various  fig- 
ures which  lines  and  angles  make  up.  The 
work  is,  in  short,  a grammar  of  form,  with  ex- 
ercises. And  thus  the  system  of  commencing 
with  a dry  analysis  of  elements,  which,  in  the 
teaching  of  language,  has  been  exploded,  is 
to  be  re-instituted  in  the  teaching  of  drawing. 
The  abstract  is  to  be  preliminary  to  the  con- 
crete. Scientific  conceptions  are  to  precede 
empirical  experiences.  That  this  is  an  inver- 


132 


EDUCATION. 


sion  of  the  normal  order,  we  need  scarcely 
repeat.  It  has  been  well  said  concerning  the 
custom  of  prefacing  the  art  of  speaking  any 
tongue  by  a drilling  in  the  parts  of  speech 
and  their  functions,  that  it  is  about  as  reason- 
able as  prefacing  the  art  of  walking  by  a 
course  of  lessons  on  the  bones,  muscles,  and 
nerves  of  the  legs ; and  much  the  same  thing 
may  be  said  of  the  proposal  to  preface  the  art 
of  representing  objects  by  a nomenclature 
and  definitions  of  the  lines  which  they  yield 
on  analysis.  These  technicalities  are  alike 
repulsive  and  needless.  They  render  the 
study  distasteful  at  the  very  outset ; and  all 
with  the  view  of  teaching  that,  which,  in  the 
course  of  practice,  will  be  learnt  unconscious- 
ly. Just  as  the  child  incidentally  gathers  the 
meanings  of  ordinary  words  from  the  conver- 
sations going  on  around  it,  without  the  help 
of  dictionaries ; so,  from  the  remarks  on  ob- 
jects, pictures,  and  its  own  drawings,  will  it 
presently  acquire,  not  only  without  effort  but 
even  pleasurably,  those  same  scientific  terms 
which,  if  presented  at  first,  are  a mystery 
and  a weariness. 

If  any  dependence  is  to  be  placed  upon  the 
general  principles  of  education  that  have 
been  laid  down,  the  process  of  learning  to 
draw  should  be  throughout  continuous  with 
those  efforts  of  early  childhood  described 
above,  as  so  worthy  of  encouragement.  By 
the  time  that  the  voluntary  practice  thus  ini- 
tiated has  given  some  steadiness  of  hand,  and 
some  tolerable  ideas  of  proportion,  there  will 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


133 


have  arisen  a vague  notion  of  body  as  pre- 
senting its  three  dimensions  in  perspective. 
And  when,  after  sundry  abortive,  Chinese- 
like  attempts  to  render  this  appearance  on 
paper  there  has  grown  up  a pretty  clear  per- 
ception of  the  thing  to  be  achieved,  and  a de- 
sire to  achieve  it,  a first  lesson  in  empirical 
perspective  may  be  given  by  means  of  the 
apparatus  occasionally  used  in  explaining 
perspective  as  a science.  This  sounds  formid- 
able ; but  the  experiment  is  both  comprehen- 
sive and  interesting  to  any  boy  or  girl  of  or- 
dinary intelligence.  A plate  of  glass  so 
framed  as  to  stand  vertically  on  the  table, 
being  placed  before  the  pupil,  and  a book,  or 
like  simple  object,  laid  on  the  other  side  of  it, 
he  is  requested,  whilst  keeping  the  eye  in  one 
position,  to  make  ink  dots  upon  the  glass,  so 
that  they  may  coincide  with,  or  hide  the 
corners  of  this  object.  He  is  then  told  to 
join  these  dots  by  lines ; on  doing  which  he 
perceives  that  the  lines  he  makes  hide,  or  co- 
incide with,  the  outlines  of  the  object.  And 
then  on  being  asked  to  put  a sheet  of  paper 
on  the  other  side  of  the  glass,  he  discovers 
that  the  lines  he  has  thus  drawn  represent 
the  object  as  he  saw  it.  They  not  only  look 
like  it,  but  he  perceives  that  they  must  be 
like  it,  because  he  made  them  agree  with  its 
outlines ; and  by  removing  the  paper  he  can 
repeatedly  convince  himself  that  they  do 
agree  with  its  outlines.  The  fact  is  new  and 
striking ; and  serves  him  as  an  experimental 
demonstration,  that  lines  of  certain  lengths, 


134 


EDUCATION. 


placed  in  certain  directions  on  a plane,  can 
represent  lines  of  other  lengths,  and  having 
other  directions  in  space.  Subsequently,  by 
gradually  changing  the  position  of  the  object 
he  may  be  led  to  observe  how  some  lines 
shorten  and  disappear,  whilst  others  come 
into  sight  and  lengthen.  The  convergence  of 
parallel  lines,  and,  indeed,  all  the  leading  facts 
of  perspective  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  simi- 
larly illustrated  to  him.  If  he  has  been  duly 
accustomed  to  self-help,  he  will  gladly,  when 
it  is  suggested,  make  the  attempt  to  draw  one 
of  these  outlines  upon  paper,  by  the  eye  only ; 
and  it  may  soon  be  made  an  exciting  aim  to 
produce,  unassisted,  a representation,  as  like 
as  he  can,  to  one  subsequently  sketched  on 
the  glass.  Thus,  without  the  unintelligent 
mechanical  practice  of  copying  other  draw- 
ings, but  by  a method  at  once  simple  and  at- 
tractive— rational,  yet  not  abstract,  a famil- 
iarity with  the  linear  appearances  of  things, 
and  a faculty  of  rendering  them,  may  be, 
step  by  step,  acquired.  To  which  advantages 
add  these: — that  even  thus  early  the  pupil 
learns,  almost  unconsciously,  the  true  theory 
of  a picture — namely,  that  it  is  a delineation 
of  objects  as  they  appear  when  projected  on  a 
plane  placed  between  them  and  the  eye ; and 
that  when  he  reaches  a fit  age  for  commenc- 
ing scientific  perspective  he  is  already  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  the  facts  which 
form  its  logical  basis. 

As  exhibiting  a rational  mode  of  communi- 
cating primary  conceptions  in  geometry,  we 


INTELLECTUAL  ED  UCA TION. 


135 


cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  following 
passage  from  Mr.  Wvse: — 

“ A child  has  been  in  the  habit  of  using  cubes  for  arithme- 
tic; let  him  use  them  also  for  the  elements  of  geometry.  I 
would  begin  with  solids,  the  reverse  of  the  usual  plan.  It 
saves  all  the  difficulty  of  absurd  definitions,  and  bad  explana- 
tions on  points,  lines,  and  surfaces,  which  are  nothing  but  ab- 
stractions. ...  A cube  presents  many  of  the  principal 
elements  of  geometry;  it  at  once  exhibits  points,  straight  lines, 
parallel  lines,  angles,  parallelograms,  etc.,  etc.  These  cubes 
are  divisible  into  various  parts.  The  pupil  has  already  been 
familiarized  with  such  divisions  in  numeration,  and  he  now 
proceeds  to  a comparison  of  their  several  parts,  and  of  the 
relation  of  these  parts  to  each  other.  . . . From  thence  he 
advances  to  globes,  which  furnish  him  with  elementary  no- 
tions of  the  circle,  of  curves  generally,  etc.,  etc. 

“ Being  tolerably  familiar  with  solids,  he  may  now  substi- 
tute planes.  The  transition  may  be  made  very  easy.  Let  the 
cube,  for  instance,  be  cut  into  thin  divisions,  and  placed  on 
paper:  he  will  then  see  as  many  plane  rectangles  as  he  has 
divisions:  so  with  all  the  others.  Globes  may  be  treated  in 
the  same  manner;  he  will  thus  see  how  surfaces  really  are 
generated,  and  be  enabled  to  abstract  them  with  facility  in 
every  solid. 

“He  has  thus  acquired  the  alphabet  and  reading  of  geom- 
etry. He  now  proceeds  to  write  it. 

“ The  simplest  operation,  and  therefore  the  first,  is  merely 
to  place  these  planes  on  a piece  of  paper,  and  pass  the  pencil 
round  them.  When  this  has  been  frequently  done,  the  plane 
may  be  put  at  a little  distance,  and  the  child  required  to  copy 
it,  and  so  on.” 

A stock  of  geometrical  conceptions  having 
been  obtained,  in  some  such  manner  as  this 
recommended  by  Mr.  Wyse,  a further  step 
may,  in  course  of  time,  be  taken,  by  introduc- 
ing the  practice  of  testing  the  correctness  of 
all  figures  drawn  by  the  eye ; thus  alike  excit- 
ing an  ambition  to  make  them  exact,  and  con- 
tinually illustrating  the  difficulty  of  fulfilling 
that  ambition.  There  can  he  little  doubt  that 


136 


EDUCATION. 


geometry  had  its  origin  (as,  indeed,  the  word 
implies)  in  the  methods  discovered  by  artisans 
and  others,  of  making  accurate  measurement 
for  the  foundations  of  buildings,  areas  of  in- 
closures, and  the  like ; and  that  its  truths  came 
to  be  treasured  up,  merely  with  a view  to  their 
immediate  utility.  They  should  be  introduced 
to  the  pupil  under  analogous  relationships. 
In  the  cutting  out  of  pieces  for  his  card-houses, 
in  the  drawing  of  ornamental  diagrams  for 
coloring,  and  in  those  various  instructive  oc- 
cupations which  an  inventive  teacher  will 
lead  him  into,  he  may  be  for  a length  of  time 
advantageously  left,  like  the  primitive  builder, 
to  tentative  processes;  and  will  so  gain  an 
abundant  experience  of  the  difficulty  of  achiev- 
ing his  aims  by  the  unaided  senses.  When, 
having  meanwhile  undergone  a valuable  dis- 
cipline of  the  perceptions,  he  has  reached  a fit 
age  for  using  a pair  of  compasses,  he  will, 
whilst  duly  appreciating  these  as  enabling 
him  to  verify  his  ocular  guesses,  be  still  hin- 
dered by  the  difficulties  of  the  approximative 
method.  In  this  stage  he  may  be  left  for  a 
further  period:  partly  as  being  yet  too  young 
for  anything  higher ; partly  because  it  is  de- 
sirable that  he  should  be  made  to  feel  still 
more  strongly  the  want  of  systematic  contri- 
vances. If  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is  to 
be  made  continuously  interesting ; and  if,  in 
the  early  civilization  of  the  child,  as  in  the 
early  civilization  of  the  race,  science  becomes 
attractive  only  as  ministering  to  art;  it  is 
manifest  that  the  proper  preliminary  to  geom- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


137 


etry  is  a long  practice  in  those  constructive 
processes  which  geometry  will  facilitate.  Ob- 
serve that  here,  too,  nature  points  the  way. 
Almost  invariably,  children  show  a strong 
propensity  to  cut  out  things  in  paper,  to  make, 
to  build— a propensity  which,  if  duly  encour- 
aged and  directed,  will  not  only  prepare  the 
way  for  scientific  conceptions,  but  will  devel- 
op those  powers  of  manipulation  in  which 
most  people  are  so  deficient. 

When  the  observing  and  inventive  faculties 
have  attained  the  requisite  power,  the  pupil 
may  be  introduced  to  empirical  geometry; 
that  is — geometry  dealing  with  methodical 
solutions,  but  not  with  the  demonstrations  of 
them.  Like  all  other  transitions  in  education, 
this  should  be  made  not  formally  but  incident- 
ally ; and  the  relationship  to  constructive  art 
should  still  be  maintained.  To  make  a tetra- 
hedron in  cardboard,  like  one  given  to  him,  is 
a problem  which  will  alike  interest  the  pupil, 
and  serve  as  a convenient  starting-point.  In 
attempting  this,  he  finds  it  needful  to  draw 
four  equilateral  triangles  arranged  in  special 
positions.  Being  unable  in  the  absence  of  an 
exact  method  to  do  this  accurately  he  discov- 
ers on  putting  the  triangles  into  their  respec- 
tive positions,  that  he  cannot  make  their 
sides  fit,  and  that  their  angles  do  not  properly 
meet  at  the  apex.  He  may  now  be  shown  how 
by  describing  a couple  of  circles,  each  of  these 
triangles  may  be  drawn  with  perfect  correct- 
ness and  without  guessing ; and  after  his  fail- 
ure he  will  duly  value  the  information.  Hav- 


138 


EDUCATION. 


ing  thus  helped  him  to  the  solution  of  his  first 
problem,  with  the  view  of  illustrating  the 
nature  of  geometrical  methods,  he  is  in  future 
to  be  left  altogether  to  his  own  ingenuity  in 
solving  the  questions  put  to  him.  To  bisect  a 
line,  to  erect  a perpendicular,  to  describe  a 
square,  to  bisect  an  angle,  to  draw  a line  par- 
allel to  a given  line,  to  describe  a hexagon, 
are  problems  which  a little  patience  will  ena- 
ble him  to  find  out.  And  from  these  he  may 
be  led  on  step  by  step  to  questions  of  a more 
complex  kind ; all  of  which,  under  judicious 
management,  he  will  puzzle  through  unhelped. 
Doubtless,  many  of  those  brought  up  under 
the  old  regime,  will  look  upon  this  assertion 
sceptically.  We  speak  from  facts,  however, 
and  those  neither  few  nor  special.  We  have 
seen  a class  of  boys  become  so  interested  in 
making  out  solutions  to  these  problems,  as  to 
look  forward  to  their  geometry  lesson  as  a 
chief  event  of  the  week.  Within  the  last 
month,  we  have  been  told  of  one  girls’  school, 
in  which  some  of  the  young  ladies  voluntarily 
occupy  themselves  with  geometrical  questions 
out  of  school-hours ; and  of  another,  in  which 
they  not  only  do  this,  but  in  which  one  of  them 
is  begging  for  problems  to  find  out  during  the 
holidays — both  which  facts  we  state  on  the 
authority  of  the  teacher.  There  could  indeed 
be  no  stronger  proofs  than  are  thus  afforded 
of  the  practicability  and  the  immense  advan- 
tage of  self -development.  A branch  of  knowl- 
edge which  as  commonly  taught  is  dry  and 
even  repulsive,  may,  by  following  the  method 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


139 


of  nature,  be  made  extremely  interesting  and 
profoundly  beneficial.  We  say  profoundly 
beneficial,  because  the  effects  are  not  confined 
to  the  gaining  of  geometrical  facts,  but  often 
revolutionize  the  whole  state  of  mind.  It  has 
repeatedly  occurred,  that  those  who  have  been 
stupefied  by  the  ordinary  school-drill — by  its 
abstract  formulas,  by  its  wearisome  tasks,  by 
its  cramming — have  suddenly  had  their  intel- 
lects roused,  by  thus  ceasing  to  make  them 
passive  recipients,  and  inducing  them  to  be- 
come active  discoverers.  The  discouragement 
brought  about  by  bad  teaching  having  been 
diminished  by  a little  sympathy,  and  sufficient 
perseverance  induced  to  achieve  a first  success, 
there  arises  a revulsion  of  feeling  affecting  the 
whole  nature.  They  no  longer  find  them- 
selves incompetent;  they  too  can  do  some- 
thing. And  gradually  as  success  follows  suc- 
cess, the  incubus  of  despair  disappears,  and 
they  attack  the  difficulties  of  their  other 
studies  with  a courage  that  insures  conquest. 

This  empirical  geometry  which  presents  an- 
endless  series  of  problems,  and  should  be  con- 
tinued along  with  other  studies  for  years,  may 
throughout  be  advantageously  accompanied 
by  those  concrete  applications  of  its  principles 
which  serve  as  its  preliminary.  After  the 
cube,  the  octahedron,  and  the  various  forms 
of  pyramid  and  prism  have  been  mastered, 
may  come  the  more  complex  regular  bodies — 
the  dodecahedron,  and  the  icosahedron — to 
construct  which  out  of  single  pieces  of  card- 
board requires  considerable  ingenuity.  From 


140 


EDUCATION . 


these,  the  transition  may  naturally  be  made 
to  such  modified  forms  of  the  regular  bodies 
as  are  met  with  in  crystals — the  truncated 
cube,  the  cube  with  its  dihedral  as  w ell  as  its 
solid  angles  truncated,  the  octahedron  and  the 
various  prisms  as  similarly  modified ; in  imi- 
tating which  numerous  forms  assumed  by 
different  metals  and  salts,  an  acquaintance 
with  the  leading  facts  of  mineralogy  will  be 
incidentally  gained.  After  long  continuance 
in  exercises  of  this  kind,  rational  geometry, 
as  may  be  supposed,  presents  no  obstacles. 
Constantly  habituated  to  contemplate  rela- 
tionships of  form  and  quantity,  and  vaguely 
perceiving  from  time  to  time  the  necessity  of 
certain  results  as  reached  by  certain  means, 
the  pupil  comes  to  regard  the  demonstrations 
of  Euclid  as  the  missing  supplements  to  his 
familiar  problems.  His  well-disciplined  facul- 
ties enable  him  easily  to  master  its  successive 
propositions,  and  to  appreciate  their  value; 
and  he  has  the  occasional  gratification  of 
finding  some  of  his  own  methods  proved  to  be 
true.  Thus  he  enjoys  what  is  to  the  unpre- 
pared a dreary  task.  It  only  remains  to  add, 
that  his  mind  will  presently  arrive  at  a fit 
condition  for  that  most  valuable  of  all  exer- 
cises for  the  reflective  faculties — the  making 
of  original  demonstrations.  Such  theorems 
as  those  appended  to  the  successive  books  of 
the  Messrs.  Chambers’  Euclid,  will  soon  be- 
come practicable  to  him ; and  in  proving  them 
the  process  of  self-development  will  be  not 
intellectual  only,  but  moral. 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION. 


141 


To  continue  much  further  these  suggestions 
would  be  to  write  a detailed  treatise  on  educa- 
tion, which  we  do  not  purpose.  The  forego- 
ing outlines  of  plans  for  exercising  the  percep- 
tions in  early  childhood  for  conducting  object- 
lessons  for  teaching  drawing  and  geometry, 
must  be  considered  as  roughly -sketched  illus- 
trations of  the  method  dictated  by  the  gen- 
eral principles  previously  specified.  We  be- 
lieve that  on  examination  they  will  be  found 
not  only  to  progress  from  the  simple  to  the 
complex,  from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract, 
from  the  empirical  to  the  rational ; but  to  sat- 
isfy the  further  requirements  that  education 
shall  be  a repetition  of  civilization  in  little, 
that  it  shall  be  as  much  as  possible  a process 
of  self-evolution,  and  that  it  shall  be  pleasura- 
ble. That  there  should  be  one  type  of  method 
capable  of  satisfying  all  these  conditions,  tends 
alike  to  verify  the  conditions,  and  to  prove 
that  type  of  method  the  right  one.  And  when 
we  add  that  this  method  is  the  logical  out- 
come of  the  tendency,  characterizing  all  mod- 
ern systems  of  instruction — that  it  is  but  an 
adoption  in  full  of  the  method  of  nature  which 
they  adopt  partially — that  it  displays  this 
complete  adoption  of  the  method  of  nature, 
not  only  by  conforming  to  the  above  princi- 1 
pies,  but  by  following  the  suggestions  which 
the  unfolding  mind  itself  gives,  facilitating  its 
spontaneous  activities,  and  so  aiding  the  de- 
velopments which  nature  is  busy  with — when 
we  add  this,  there  seems  abundant  reason  to 
conclude,  that  the  mode  of  procedure  above 


142 


EDUCATION. 


exemplified,  closely  approximates  to  the  true 
one. 

A few  paragraphs  must  be  appended  in  fur- 
ther inculcation  of  the  two  general  principles, 
alike  the  most  important  and  the  least  at- 
tended to : we  mean  the  principle  that  through- 
out youth,  as  in  early  childhood  and  in  matu- 
rity, the  process  shall  be  one  of  self-instruc- 
tion ; and  the  obverse  principle,  that  the  men- 
tal action  induced  by  this  process  shall  be 
throughout  intrinsically  grateful.  If  progres- 
sion from  simple  to  complex,  and  from  con- 
crete to  abstract,  be  considered  the  essential 
requirements  as  dictated  by  abstract  psychol- 
ogy, then  do  these  requirements  that  knowl- 
edge shall  be  self -mastered,  and  pleasurably 
mastered,  become  the  tests  by  which  we  may 
judge  whether  the  dictates  of  abstract  psy- 
chology are  being  fulfilled.  If  the  first  em- 
body the  leading  generalizations  of  the  science 
of  mental  growth,  the  last  are  the  chief  can- 
ons of  the  art  of  fostering  mental  growth. 
For  manifestly  if  the  steps  in  our  curriculum 
are  so  arranged  that  they  can  be  successively 
ascended  by  the  pupil  himself  with  little  or  no 
help,  they  must  correspond  with  the  stages  of 
evolution  in  his  faculties;  and  manifestly  if 
the  successive  achievements  of  these  steps  are 
intrinsically  gratifying  to  him,  it  follows  that 
they  require  no  more  than  a normal  exercise 
of  his  powers. 

But  the  making  education  a process  of  self- 
evolution has  other  advantages  than  this  of 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION.  143 

keeping  our  lessons  in  the  right  order.  In  the 
first  place,  it  guarantees  a vividness  and  per- 
manency of  impression  which  the  usual  meth- 
ods can  never  produce.  Any  piece  of  knowl- 
edge which  the  pupil  has  himself  acquired, 
any  problem  which  he  has  himself  solved,  be- 
comes by  virtue  of  the  conquest  much  more 
thoroughly  his  than  it  could  else  be.  The 
preliminary  activity  of  mind  which  his  suc- 
cess implies,  the  concentration  of  thought  nec- 
essary to  it,  and  the  excitement  consequent 
on  his  triumph,  conspire  to  register  all  the 
facts  in  his  memory  in  a way  that  no  mere 
information  heard  from  a teacher,  or  read  in 
a school-book,  can  be  registered.  Even  if  he 
fails,  the  tension  to  which  his  faculties  have 
been  wound  up  insures  his  remembrance  of 
the  solution  when  given  to  him,  better  than 
half  a dozen  repetitions  would.  Observe  again, 
that  this  discipline  necessitates  a continuous 
organization  of  the  knowledge  he  acquires. 
It  is  in  the  very  nature  of  facts  and  infer- 
ences, assimilated  in  this  normal  manner, 
that  they  successively  become  the  premises 
of  further  conclusions, — the  means  of  solving- 
still  further  questions.  The  solution  of  yes- 
terday’s problem  helps  the  pupil  in  mastering- 
to-day’s.  Thus  the  knowledge  is  turned  into 
faculty  as  soon  as  it  is  taken  in,  and  forth- 
with aids  in  the  general  function  of  thinking 
— does  not  lie  merely  written  in  the  pages  of 
an  internal  library,  as  when  rote-learnt. 
Mark  further,  the  importance  of  the  moral 
culture  which  this  constant  self-help  involves. 


EDUCATION. 


Courage  in  attacking  difficulties,  patient  con- 
centration of  the  attention,  perseverance 
through  failures — these  are  characteristics 
which  after-life  specially  requires ; and  these 
are  characteristics  which  this  system  of  mak- 
ing the  mind  work  for  its  food  specially  pro- 
duces. That  it  is  thoroughly  practicable  to 
carry  out  instruction  after  this  fashion  we 
can  ourselves  testify ; having  been  in  youth 
thus  led  to  successively  solve  the  compara- 
tively complex  problems  of  Perspective.  And 
that  leading  teachers  have  been  gradually 
tending  in  this  direction  is  indicated  alike  in 
the  saying  of  Fellenberg,  that  uthe  individ- 
ual, independent  activity  of  the  pupil  is  of 
much  greater  importance  than  the  ordinary 
busy  officiousness  of  many  who  assume  the 
office  of  educators ; ” in  the  opinion  of  Horace 
Mann,  that 4 ‘ unfortunately  education  amongst 
us  at  present  consists  too  much  in  telling , not 
in  training;  ” and  in  the  remark  of  M.  Marcel 
that  “what  the  learner  discovers  by  mental 
exertion  is  better  known  than  what  is  told  to 
him.” 

Similarly  with  the  correlative  requirement, 
that  the  method  of  culture  pursued  shall  be 
one  productive  of  an  intrinsically  happy  ac- 
tivity,— an  activity  not  happy  in  virtue  of  ex- 
trinsic rewards  to  be  obtained,  but  in  virtue 
of  its  own  healthfulness.  Conformity  to  this 
requirement  not  only  guards  us  against 
thwarting  the  normal  process  of  evolution,  but 
incidentally  secures  positive  benefits  of  im- 
portance. Unless  we  are  to  return  to  an  as- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION . 


145 


cetic  morality,  the  maintenance  of  youthful 
happiness  must  be  considered  as  in  itself  a 
worthy  aim.  Not  to  dwell  upon  this,  how- 
ever, we  go  on  to  remark  that  a pleasurable 
state  of  feeling  is  far.  more  favorable  to  intel- 
lectual action  than  one  of  indifference  or  dis- 
gust. Every  one  knows  that  things  read, 
heard,  or  seen  with  interest,  are  better  remem- 
bered than  those  read,  heard,  or  seen  with 
apathy.  In  the  one  case  the  faculties  ap- 
pealed to  are  actively  occupied  with  the  sub- 
ject presented;  in  the  other  they  are  inac- 
tively occupied  with  it ; and  the  attention  is 
continually  drawn  away  after  more  attractive 
thoughts.  Hence  the  impressions  are  respec- 
tively strong  and  weak.  Moreover,  the  intel- 
lectual listlessness  which  a pupil’s  lack  of  in- 
terest in  any  study  involves,  is  further  com- 
plicated by  his  anxiety,  by  his  fear  of  conse- 
quences, which  distract  his  attention,  and  in- 
crease the  difficulty  he  finds  in  bringing  his 
faculties  to  bear  upon  these  facts  that  are  re- 
pugnant to  them.  Clearly,  therefore,  the  ef- 
ficiency of  any  intellectual  action  will,  other 
things  equal,  be  proportionate  to  the  gratifi- 
cation with  which  it  is  performed. 

It  should  be  considered  also,  that  important 
moral  consequences  depend  upon  the  habitual 
pleasure  or  pain  which  daily  lessons  produce. 
No  one  can  compare  the  faces  and  manners  of 
two  boys — the  one  made  happy  by  mastering 
interesting  subjects,  and  the  other  made  mis- 
erable by  disgust  with  his  studies,  by  conse- 
quent failure,  by  cold  looks,  by  threats,  by 


146 


EDUCATION. 


punishment — without  seeing  that  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  one  is  being  benefited,  and  that  of 
the  other  greatly  injured.  Whoever  has 
marked  the  effect  of  intellectual  success  upon 
the  mind,  and  the  power  of  the  mind  over  the 
body,  will  see  that  in  the  one  case  both  tem- 
per and  health  are  favorably  affected ; whilst 
in  the  other  there  is  danger  of  permanent 
moroseness,  of  permanent  timidity,  and  even 
of  permanent  constitutional  depression.  To 
all  which  considerations  we  must  add  the  fur- 
ther one,  that  the  relationship  between  teach- 
ers and  their  pupils  is,  other  things  equal, 
rendered  friendly  and  influential,  or  antago- 
nistic and  powerless,  according  as  the  system 
of  culture  produces  happiness  or  misery.  Hu- 
man beings  are  at  the  mercy  of  their  associ- 
ated ideas.  A daily  minister  of  pain  cannot 
fail  to  be  regarded  with  a secret  dislike,  and 
if  he  causes  no  emotions  but  painful  ones,  will 
inevitably  be  hated.  Conversely,  he  who  con- 
stantly aids  children  to  their  ends,  hourly  pro- 
vides them  with  the  satisfactions  of  conquest, 
hourly  encourages  them  through  their  difficul- 
ties and  sympathizes  in  their  successes,  can- 
not fail  to  be  liked;  nay,  if  his  behavior  is 
consistent  throughout,  must  be  loved.  And 
when  we  remember  how  efficient  and  benign 
is  the  control  of  a master  who  is  felt  to  be  a 
friend,  when  compared  with  the  control  of  one 
who  is  looked  upon  with  aversion,  or  at  best 
indifference,  we  may  infer  that  the  indirect  ad- 
vantages of  conducting  education  on  the  hap- 
piness principle  do  not  fall  far  short  of  the  di- 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION.  147 


rect  ones.  To  all  who  question  the  possibility 
of  acting  out  the  system  here  advocated,  we 
reply  as  before,  that  not  only  does  theory  point 
to  it,  but  experience  commends  it.  To  the 
many  verdicts  of  distinguished  teachers  who 
since  Pestalozzi’s  time  have  testified  this,  may 
be  here  added  that  of  Professor  Pillans,  who 
asserts  that  “ where  young  people  are  taught 
as  they  ought  to  be,  they  are  quite  as  happy 
in  school  as  at  play,  seldom  less  delighted, 
nay,  often  more,  with  the  well-directed  exer- 
cise of  their  mental  energies,  than  with  that 
of  their  muscular  powers.” 

As  suggesting  a final  reason  for  making  ed- 
ucation a process  of  self-instruction,  and  by 
consequence  a process  of  pleasurable  instruc- 
tion, we  may  advert  to  the  fact  that,  in  pro- 
portion as  it  is  made  so,  is  there  a probability 
that  education  will  not  cease  when  school- 
days end.  As  long  as  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  is  rendered  habitually  repugnant, 
sodong  will  there  be  a prevailing  tendency  to 
discontinue  it  when  free  from  the  coercion  of 
parents  and  masters.  And  when  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  has  been  rendered  habitu- 
ally gratifying,  then  will  there  be  as  prevail- 
ing a tendency  to  continue,  without  superin- 
tendence, that  same  self-culture  previously 
carried  on  under  superintendence.  These  re- 
sults are  inevitable.  While  the  laws  of  men- 
tal association  remain  true — while  men  dis- 
like the  things  and  places  that  suggest  pain- 
ful recollections,  and  delight  in  those  which 
call  to  mind  bygone  pleasures — painful  les- 


148 


EDUCATION. 


sons  will  make  knowledge  repulsive,  and 
pleasurable  lessons  will  make  it  attractive. 
The  men  to  whom  in  boyhood  information 
came  in  dreary  tasks  along  with  threats  of 
punishment,  and  who  were  never  led  into 
habits  of  independent  inquiry,  are  unlikely 
to  be  students  in  after  years ; while  those  to 
whom  it  came  in  the  natural  forms,  at  the 
proper  times,  and  who  remember  its  facts  as 
not  only  interesting  in  themselves,  but  as  the 
occasions  of  a long  series  of  gratifying  suc- 
cesses, are  likely  to  continue  through  life  that 
self-instruction  commenced  in  youth. 


CHAPTER  III. 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 

Strangely  enough,  the  most  glaring  defect 
in  our  programmes  of  education  is  entirely 
overlooked.  While  much  is  being  done  in 
the  detailed  improvement  of  our  systems  in 
respect  both  of  matter  and  manner,  the  most 
pressing  desideratum  has  not  yet  been  even 
recognized  as  a desideratum.  To  prepare  the 
young  for  the  duties  of  life  is  tacitly  admitted 
by  all  to  be  the  end  which  parents  and  school- 
masters should  have  in  view;  and  happily 
the  value  of  the  things  taught,  and  the  good- 
ness of  the  method  followed  in  teaching  them, 
are  now  ostensibly  jugded  by  their  fitness  to 
this  end.  The  propriety  of  substituting  for 
an  exclusively  classical  training  a training  in 
which  the  modern  languages  shall  have  a 
share,  is  argued  on  this  ground.  The  neces- 
sity of  increasing  the  amount  of  science  is 
urged  for  like  reasons.  But  though  some 
care  is  taken  to  fit  youth  of  both  sexes  for  so- 
ciety and  citizenship,  no  care  whatever  is 
taken  to  fit  them  for  the  still  more  important 
position  they  will  ultimately  have  to  fill — the 
position  of  parents.  While  it  is  seen  that  for 
the  purpose  of  gaining  a livelihood,  an  elabo- 
rate preparation  is  needed,  it  appears  to  be 
thought  that  for  the  bringing  up  of  children, 


150 


EDUCATION . 


no  preparation  whatever  is  needed.  While 
many  years  are  spent  by  a boy  in  gaining 
knowledge,  of  which  the  chief  value  is  that  it 
constitutes  “the  education  of  a gentleman;” 
and  while  many  years  are  spent  by  a girl  in 
those  decorative  acquirements  which  fit  her 
for  evening  parties ; not  an  hour  is  spent  by 
either  of  them  in  preparation  for  that  gravest 
of  all  responsibilities — the  management  of  a 
family.  Is  it  that  this  responsibility  is  but  a 
remote  contingency?  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
certain  to  devolve  on  nine  out  of  ten.  Is  it 
that  the  discharge  of  it  is  easy?  Certainly 
not : of  all  functions  which  the  adult  has  to 
fulfil  this  is  the  most  difficult.  Is  it  that  each 
may  be  trusted  by  self-instruction  to  fit  him- 
self, or  herself,  for  the  office  of  parent?  No: 
not  only  is  the  need  for  such  self-instruction 
unrecognized,  but  the  complexity  of  the  sub- 
ject renders  it  the  one  of  all  pthers  in  which 
self-instruction  is  least  likely  to  succeed.  No 
rational  plea  can  be  put  forward  for  leaving 
the  Art  of  Education  out  of  our  curriculum. 
Whether  as  bearing  upon  the  I^ppiness  of 
parents  themselves,  or  whether  as  affecting 
the  characters  and  lives  of  their  children  and 
remote  descendants,  we  must  admit,,  that  a 
knowledge  of  the  right  methods  of  juvenile 
culture,  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral,  is  a 
knowledge  second  to  none  in  importance. 
This  topic  should  occupy  the  highest  and  last 
place  in  the  course  of  instruction  passed 
through  by  each  man  and  woman.  As  phys- 
ical maturity  is  marked  by  the  ability  to 


MORAL  EDUCATION 


151 


produce  offspring,  so  mental  maturity  is 
marked  by  the  ability  to  trail^  those  off- 
spring. The  subject  which  involves  all  other 
subjects , and  therefore  the  subject  in  which  the 
education  of  every  one  should  culminate f is 
the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Education. 

In  the  absence  of  this  preparation,  the 
management  of  children,  and  more  especially 
j the  moral  management,  is  lamentably  bad. 
Parents  either  never  think  about  the  matter 
at  all,  or  else  their  conclusions  are  crude  and 
inconsistent.  In  most  cases,  and  especially 
on  the  part  of  mothers,  the  treatment  adopted 
on  every  occasion  is  that  which  the  impulse 
of  the  moment  prompts : it  springs  not  from 
any  reasoned-out  conviction  as  to  what  will 
most  conduce  to  the  child’s  welfare,  but 
merely  expresses  the  passing  parental  feel- 
ings, whether  good  or  ill;  and  varies  from 
hour  to  hour  r s these  feelings  vary.  Or  if 
these  blind  dictates  of  passion  are  supple- 
mented by  any  definite  doctrines  and  meth- 
ods, they  are  those  that  have  been  handed 
down  from  the  past,  or  those  suggested  by 
the  remembrances  of  childhood,  or  those 
adopted  from  nurses  and  servants — methods 
devised  not  by  the  enlightenment,  but  by  the 
ignorance  of  the  time.  Commenting  on  the 
chaotic  state  of  opinion  and  practice  relative 
to  family  government,  Richter  writes : — 

“ If  the  secret  variances  of  a large  class  of  ordinary  fathers 
were  brought  to  light,  and  laid  down  as  a plan  of  studies,  and 
reading  catalogued  for  a moral  education,  they  would  run 
somewhat  after  this  fashion: — In  the  first  hour  ‘ pure  morality 
must  be  read  to  the  child,  either  by  myself  or  the  tutor;  ’ in 


152 


EDUCATION. 


the  second,  * mixed  morality,  or  that  which  may  bd  applied 
to  one’s  own  at^antage;  ’ in  the  third,  ‘do  you  not  see  that 
your  father  do  Jr so  and  so?  ’ in  the  fourth,  ‘ you  are  little,  and 
this  is  only  fit  for  grown-up  people  ;’  in  the  fifth,  ‘ the  chief 
matter  is  that  you  should  succeed  in  the  world,  and  become 
something  in  the  state;  ’ in  the  sixth,  ‘ not  the  temporary,  but 
the  eternal,  determines  the  worth  of  a man ; ’ in  the  seventh, 
‘ therefore  rather  suffer  injustice,  and  be  kind ; ’ in  the  eighth, 
‘ but  defend  yourself  bravely  if  any  one  attack  you ; ’ in  the 
ninth,  ‘ do  not  make  a noise,  dear  child;  ’ in  the  tenth,  ‘ a boy 
must  not  sit  so  quiet;  ’ in  the  eleventh,  ‘you  must  obey  your 
parents  better;  ’ in  the  twelfth,  ‘and  educate  yourself.’  So 
by  the  hourly  change  of  his  principles,  the  father  conceals 
their  untenableness  and  onesidedness.  As  for  his  wife,  she  is. 
neither  like  him,  nor  yet  like  that  harlequin  who  came  on  to 
the  stage  with  a bundle  of  papers  under  each  arm,  and 
answered  to  the  inquiry,  what  he  had  under  his  right  arm, 
‘orders,’  and  to  what  he  had  under  his  left  arm,  ‘counter- 
orders.’ But  the  mother  might  be  much  better  compared  to 
a giant  Briareus,  who  had  a hundred  arms,  and  a bundle  of 
papers  under  each.” 

This  state  of  things  is  not  to  be  readily- 
changed.  Generations  must  pass  before  any 
great  amelioration  of  it  can  be  expected. 
Like  political  constitutions,  educational  sys- 
tems are  not  made,  but  grow;  and  within 
brief  periods  growth  is  insensible.  Slow, 
however,  as  must  be  any  improvement,  even 
that  improvement  implies  the  use  of  means ; 
and  among  the  means  is  discussion. 

We  are  not  among  those  who  believe  in 
Lord  Palmerston’s  dogma,  that  “all  children 
are  born  good.  ” On  the  whole,  the  opposite 
dogma,  untenable  as  it  is,  seems  to  us  less 
wide  of  the  truth.  Nor  do  we  agree  with 
those  who  think  that,  by  skilful  discipline, 
children  may  be  made  altogether  what  they 
should  be.  Contrariwise,  we  are  satisfied 


MORAL  EDUCATION , 


153 


that  though  imperfections  of  nature  may  he 
diminished  by  wise  managemer^  they  can- 
not be  removed  by  it.  The  notion  that  an 
ideal  humanity  might  be  forthwith  produced 
by  a perfect  system  of  education,  is  near  akin 
to  that  shadowed  forth  in  the  poems  of  Shel- 
ley, that  would  mankind  give  up  their  old  in- 
stitutions, prejudices,  and  errors,  all  the  evils 
in  the  world  would  at  once  disappear : neither 
notion  being  acceptable  to  such  as  have  dis- 
passionately studied  human  affairs. 

Not  that  we  are  without  sympathy  with 
those  who  entertain  these  too  sanguine  hopes. 
Enthusiasm,  pushed  even  to  fanaticism,  is  a 
useful  motive-power — perhaps  an  indispens- 
able one.  It  is  clear  that  the  ardent  politi- 
cian would  never  undergo  the  labors  and 
make  the  sacrifices  he  does,  did  he  not  believe 
that  the  reform  he  fights  for  is  the  one  thing 
needful.  But  for  his  conviction  that  drunk- 
enness is  the  root  of  almost  all  social  evils, 
the  teetotaller  would  agitate  far  less  energeti- 
cally. In  philanthropy  as  in  other  things 
great  advantage  results  from  division  of 
labor;  and  that  there  may  be  division  of 
labor,  each  class  of  philanthropists  must  be 
more  or  less  subordinated  to  its  function — 
must  have  an  exaggerated  faith  in  its  work. 
Hence,  of  those  who  regard  education,  intel- 
lectual or  moral,  as  the  panacea,  their  undue 
expectations  are  not  without  use;  and  that 
perhaps  it  is  part  of  the  beneficent  order  of 
things  that  their  confidence  cannot  be  shaken. 

Even  were  it  true,  however,  that  by  some 


154 


EDUCATION. 


possible  system  of  moral  government  children 
could  be  mdmlded  into  the  desired  form ; and 
even  could  every  parent  be  duly  indoctrinated 
with  this  system ; we  should  still  be  far  from 
achieving  the  object  in  view.  It  is  forgotten 
that  the  carrying  out  of  any  such  system, 
presupposes,  on  the  part  of  adults,  a degree  of 
intelligence,  of  goodness,  of  self-control,  pos- 
sessed by  no  one.  The  great  error  made  by 
those  who  discuss  questions  of  juvenile  disci- 
pline, is  in  ascribing  all  the  faults  and  diffi- 
culties to  the  children,  and  none  to  the  par- 
ents. The  current  assumption  respecting 
family  government,  as  respecting  national 
government,  is,  that  the  virtues  are  with  the 
rulers  and  the  vices  with  the  ruled.  Judging 
by  educational  theories,  men  and  women  are 
entirely  transfigured  in  the  domestic  relation. 
The  citizens  we  do  business  with,  the  people 
we  meet  in  the  world,  we  all  know  to  be  very 
imperfect  creatures.  In  the  daily  scandals, 
in  the  quarrels  of  friends,  in  bankruptcy  dis- 
closures, in  lawsuits,  in  police  reports,  we 
have  constantly  thrust  before  us  the  pervad- 
ing selfishness,  dishonesty,  brutality.  Yet 
when  we  criticise  nursery  management,  and 
canvass  the  misbehavior  of  juveniles,  we 
habitually  take  for  granted  that  these  culpa- 
ble men  and  women  are  free  from  moral  de- 
linquency in  the  treatment  of  their  offspring ! 
So  far  is  this  from  the  truth,  that  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  to  parental  misconduct  is 
traceable  a great  part  of  the  domestic  disorder 
commonly  ascribed  to  the  perversity  of  chil- 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


155 


dren.  We  do  not  assert  this  of  the  more  syim 
pathetic  and  self -restrained,  among  whom  we 
hope  most  of  our  readers  may  be  classed,  but 
we  assert  it  of  the  mass.  What  kind  of  moral 
discipline  is  to  be  expected  from  a mother 
who,  time  after  time,  angrily  shakes  her  in- 
fant because  it  will  not  suckle  her,  which  we 
once  saw  a mother  do?  How  much  love  of 
justice  and  generosity  is  likely  to  be  instilled 
by  a father  who,  on  having  his  attention 
drawn  by  his  child’s  scream  to  the  fact  that 
its  finger  is  jammed  between  the  window  sash 
and  the  sill,  forthwith  begins  to  beat  the  child 
instead  of  releasing  it?  Yet  that  there  are 
such  fathers  is  testified  to  us  by  an  eye-wit- 
ness. Or,  to  take  a still  stronger  case,  also 
vouched  for  by  direct  testimony — what  are 
the  educational  prospects  of  the  boy  who,  on 
being  taken  home  with  a dislocated  thigh,  is 
saluted  with  a castigation?  It  is  true  that 
these  are  extreme  instances — instances  exhib- 
iting in  human  beings  that  blind  instinct 
which  impels  brutes  to  destroy  the  weakly 
and  injured  of  their  own  race.  But  extreme 
though  they  are,  they  typify  feelings  and 
conduct  daily  observable  in  many  families. 
Who  has  not  repeatedly  seen  a child  slapped 
by  nurse  or  parent  for  a fretfulness  probably 
resulting  from  bodily  derangement?  Who, 
when  watching  a mother  snatch  up  a fallen 
little  one,  has  not  often  traced,  both  in  the 
rough  manner  and  in  the  sharply-uttered  ex- 
clamation— 4 4 You  stupid  little  thing!” — an 
irascibility  foretelling  endless  future  squab- 


156 


EDUCATION. 


bles?  Is  there  not  in  the  harsh  tones  in  which 
a father  bids  his  children  be  quiet,  evidence 
of  a deficient  fellow-feeling  with  them?  Are 
not  the  constant,  and  often  quite  needless, 
thwartings  that  the  young  experience — the 
injunctions  to  sit  still,  which  an  active  child 
cannot  obey  without  suffering  great  nervous 
irritation,  the  commands  not  to  look  out  of 
the  window  when  travelling  by  railway, 
which  on  a child  of  any  intelligence  entails 
serious  deprivation — are  not  these  thwart- 
ings, we  ask,  signs  of  a terrible  lack  of  sym- 
pathy? The  truth  is,  that  the  difficulties  of 
moral  education  are  necessarily  of  dual  origin 
— necessarily  result  from  the  combined  faults 
of  parents  and  children.  If  hereditary  trans- 
mission is  a law  of  nature,  as  every  naturalist 
knows  it  to  be,  and  as  our  daily  remarks  and 
current  proverbs  admit  it  to  be ; then  on  the 
average  of  cases,  the  defects  of  children  mir- 
ror the  defects  of  their  parents ; — on  the  aver- 
age of  cases,  we  say,  because,  complicated  as 
the  results  are  by  the  transmitted  traits  of  re- 
moter ‘ancestors,  the  correspondence  is  not 
special  but  only  general.  And  if,  on  the  av- 
erage of  cases,  this  inheritance  of  defects 
exists,  then  the  evil  passions  which  parents 
have  to  check  in  their  children  imply  like 
evil  passions  in  themselves;  hidden,  it  may 
be,  from  the  public  eye ; or  perhaps  obscured 
by  other  feelings ; but  still  there.  Evidently, 
therefore,  the  general  practice  of  any  ideal 
system  of  discipline  is  hopeless : parents  are 
not  good  enough. 


MOBAL  EDUCATION . 


157 


Moreover,  even  were  there  methods  by 
which  the  desired  end  could  he  at  once  ef- 
fected, and  even  had  fathers  and  mothers 
sufficient  insight,  sympathy,  and  self-com- 
mand to  employ  these  methods  consistently, 
it  might  still  be  contended  that  it  would  be  of 
no  use  to  reform  family  discipline  faster  than 
other  things  are  reformed.  What  is  it  that 
we  aim  to  do?  Is  it  not  that  education  of 
whatever  kind  has  for  its  proximate  end  to 
prepare  a child  for  the  business  of  life — to 
produce  a citizen  who,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  is  well  conducted,  is  also  able  to  make  his 
way  in  the  world?  And  does  not  making  his 
way  in  the  world  (by  which  we  mean,  not 
the  acquirement  of  wealth,  but  of  the  means 
requisite  for  properly  bringing  up  a family) 
— does  not  this  imply  a certain  fitness  for  the 
world  as  it  nowT  is?  And  if  by  any  system  of 
culture  an  ideal  human  being  could  be  pro- 
duced, is  it  not  doubtful  whether  he  would  be 
fit  for  the  world  as  it  now  is?  May  we  not, 
on  the  contrary,  suspect  that  his  too  keen 
sense  of  rectitude,  and  too  elevated  standard 
of  conduct,  would  make  life  alike  intolerable 
and  impossible?  And  however  admirable  the 
results  might  be,  considered  individually, 
would  it  not  be  self-defeating  in  so  far  as  soci- 
ety and  posterity  are  concerned?  It  may,  we 
think,  be  argued  with  much  reason,  that  as  in 
a nation  so  in  a family,  the  kind  of  govern- 
ment is,  on  the  whole,  about  as  good  as  the 
general  state  of  human  nature  permits  it  to 
be.  It  may  be  said  that  in  the  one  case,  as  in 


158 


EDUCATION. 


the  other,  the  average  character  of  the  people 
determines  the  quality  of  the  control  exer- 
cised. It  may  he  inferred  that  in  both  cases 
amelioration  of  the  average  character  leads 
to  an  amelioration  of  system;  and  further, 
that  were  it  possible  to  ameliorate  the  sys- 
tem without  the  average  character  being 
first  ameliorated,  evil,  rather  than  good, 
would  follow.  It  may  be  urged  that  such 
degree  of  harshness  as  children  now  ex- 
perience from  their  parents,  and  teachers, 
is  but  a preparation  for  that  greater  harsh- 
ness which  they  will  meet  with  on  entering 
the  world ; and  that  were  it  possible  for  par- 
ents and  teachers  to  behave  towards  them 
with  perfect  equity  and  entire  sympathy, 
it  would  but  intensify  the  sufferings  which 
the  selfishness  of  men  must,  in  after  life, 
inflict  on  them.* 


* This  is  the  plea  put  in  by  some  for  the  rough  treatment 
experienced  by  boys  at  our  public  schools;  where,  as  it  is  said, 
they  are  introduced  to  a miniature  world  whose  imperfections 
and  hardships  prepare  them  for  those  of.  the  real  world ; and 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  plea  has  some  force.  But  it  is  a 
very  insufficient  plea.  For  whereas  domestic  and  school  dis- 
cipline, though  they  should  not  be  very  much  better  than  the 
discipline  of  adult  life,  should  at  any  rate  be  somewhat  better; 
the  discipline  which  boys  meet  with  at  Eton,  Winchester, 
Harrow,  etc.,  is  much  worse  than  that  of  adult  life— much 
more  unjust,  cruel,  brutal.  Instead  of  being  an  aid  to  hu- 
man progress,  which  all  culture  should  be,  the  culture  of  our 
public  schools,  by  accustoming  boys  to  a despotic  form  of 
government  and  an  intercourse  regulated  by  brute  force, 
tends  to  fit  them  for  a lower  state  of  society  than  that  which 
exists.  And  chiefly  recruited  as  our  legislature  is  from  among 
those  who  are  brought  up  at  these  schools,  this  barbarizing  im 
fluence  becomes  a serious  hindrance  to  national  progress.' 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


159 


“ But  does  not  this  prove  too  much?  ” some 
one  will  ask.  “ If  no  system  of  moral  culture 
can  forthwith  make  children  altogether  what 
they  should  be ; if,  even  were  there  a system 
that  would  do  this,  existing  parents  are  too 
imperfect  to  carry  it  out ; and  if  even  could 
such  a system  be  successfully  carried  out,  its 
results  would  be  disastrously  incongruous 
with  the  present  state  of  society ; does  it  not 
follow  that  a reform  in  the  system  now  in 
use  is  neither  practicable  nor  desirable?  ” 
No.  It  merely  follows  that  reform  in  domes- 
tic government  must  go  on,  pari  passu  with 
other  reforms.  It  merely  follows  that  meth- 
ods of  discipline  neither  can  be  nor  should 
be  ameliorated,  except  by  instalments.  It 
merely  follows  that  the  dictates  of  abstract 
rectitude  will,  in  practice,  inevitably  be  sub- 
ordinated by  the  present  state  of  human  na- 
ture— by  the  imperfections  alike  of  children, 
of  parents,  and  of  society;  and  can  only  be 
better  fulfilled  as  the  general  character  be- 
comes better. 

“At  any  rate,  then,”  may  rejoin  our  critic, 
“it  is  clearly  useless  to  set  up  any  ideal 
standard  of  family  discipline.  . There  can  be 
no  advantage  in  elaborating  and  recommend- 
ing methods  that  are  in  advance  of  the  time.  ” 
Again  we  must  contend  for  the  contrary. 
Just  as  in  the  case  of  political  government, 
though  pure  rectitude  may  be  at  present  im- 
practicable, it  is  requisite  to  know  where  the 
right  lies,  so  that  the  changes  we  make  may 
be  towards  the  right  instead  of  away  from 


160 


EDUCATION . 


it ; so  in  the  "case  of  domestic  government, 
an  ideal  must  be  upheld,  that  there  may  be 
gradual  approximations  to  it.  We  need  fear 
no  evil  consequences  from  the  maintenance 
of  such  an  ideal.  On  the  average  the  consti- 
tutional conservatism  of  mankind  is  always 
strong  enough  to  prevent  a too  rapid  change. 
So  admirable  are  the  arrangements  of  things 
that  until  men  have  grown  up  to  the  level  of 
a higher  belief,  they  cannot  receive  it : nomi- 
nally, they  may  hold  it,  but  not  virtually. 
And  even  when  the  truth  gets  recognized, 
the  obstacles  to  conformity  with  it  are  so  per- 
sistent as  to  outlive  the  patience  of  philanthro- 
pists and  even  philosophers.  We  may  be 
quite  sure,  therefore,  that  the  many  difficul- 
ties standing  in  the  way  of  a normal  govern- 
ment of  children,  will  always  put  an  adequate 
check  upon  the  efforts  to  realize  it. 

With  these  preliminary  explanations,  let  us 
go  on  to  consider  the  true  aims  and  methods 
of  moral  education — moral  education,  strictly 
so  called, we  mean;  for  we  do  not  propose  to 
enter  upon  the  question  of  religious  education 
as  an  aid  to  the  education  exclusively  moral. 
This  we  omit  as  a topic  better  dealt  with 
separately.  After  a few  pages  devoted  to  the 
settlement,  of  general  principles,  during  the 
perusal  of  which  we  bespeak  the  reader’s 
patience,  we  shall  aim  by  illustrations  to 
make  clear  the  right  methods  of  parental  be- 
havior in  the  hourly  occurring  difficulties  of 
family  government. 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


161 


When  a child  falls,  or  runs  its  head  against 
the  table,  it  suffers  a pain,  the  remembrance 
of  which  tends  to  make  it  more  careful* 
for  the  future;  and  by  an  occasional  rep- 
etition of  like  experiences,  it  is  eventually 
disciplined  into  a proper  guidance  of  its 
movements.  If  it  lays  hold  of  the  fire-bars, 
thrusts  its  finger  into  the  candle-flame,  or 
spills  boiling  water  on  any  part  of  its  skin, 
the  resulting  burn  or  scald  is  a lesson  not 
easily  forgotten.  So  deep  an  impression  is 
produced  by  one  or  two  such  events,  that 
afterwards  no  persuasion  will  induce  it  again 
to  disregard  the  laws  of  its  constitution  in 
these  ways. 

Now  in  these  and  like  cases,  Nature  illus- 
trates to  us  in  the  simplest  way,  the  true 
theory  and  practice  of  moral  discipline — a 
theory  and  practice  which,  however  much 
they  may  seem  to  the  superficial  like  those 
commonly  received,  we  shall  find  on  exami- 
nation to  differ  from  them  very  widely. 

Observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  in  bodily 
injuries  and  their  penalties  we  have  miscon- 
duct and  its  consequences  reduced  to  their 
simplest  forms.  Though,  according  to  their 
popular  acceptations,  right  and  wrong  are 
words  scarcely  applicable  to  actions  that 
have  none  but  direct  bodily  effects ; yet  who- 
ever considers  the  matter  will  see  that  such 
actions  must  be  as  much  classifiable  under 
these  heads  as  any  other  actions.  From 
whatever  basis  they  start,  all  theories  of  mor- 
11 


162 


EDUCATION . 


ality  agree  in  considering  that  conduct  whose 
total  results,  immediate  and  remote,  are  ben- 
* eficial,  is  good  conduct ; while  conduct  whose 
total  results,  immediate  and  remote,  are  in- 
jurious, is  bad  conduct.  The  happiness  or 
misery  caused  by  it  are  the  ultimate  standards 
by  which  all  men  judge  of  behavior.  We 
consider  drunkenness  wrong  because  of  the 
physical  degeneracy  and  accompanying  moral 
evils  entailed  on  the  transgressor  and  his  de- 
pendents. Did  theft  uniformly  give  pleasure 
both  to  taker  and  loser,  we  should  not  find  it 
in  our  catalogue  of  sins.  Were  it  conceiva- 
ble that  benevolent  actions  multiplied  human 
pains,  we  should  condemn  them — should  not 
consider  them  benevolent.  It  needs  but  to 
read  the  first  newspaper  leader,  or  listen  to 
any  conversation  touching  social  affairs,  to 
see  that  acts  of  parliament,  political  move- 
ments, philanthropic  agitations,  in  common 
with  the  doings  of  individuals,  are  judged  by 
their  anticipated  results  in  multiplying  the 
pleasures  or  pains  of  men.  And  if  on  looking 
on  all  secondary  superinduced  ideas,  we  find 
these  to  be  our  ultimate  tests  of  right  and 
wrong,  we  cannot  refuse  to  class  purely  phys- 
ical actions  as  right  or  wrong  according  to 
the  beneficial  or  detrimental  results  they  pro- 
duce. 

Note,  in  the  second  place,  the  character  of 
the  punishments  by  which  these  physical 
transgressions  are  prevented.  Punishments, 
we  call  them,  in  the  absence  of  a better  word ; 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


163 


for  they  are  not  punishments  in  the  literal 
sense.  They  are  not  artificial  and  unneces- 
sary inflictions  of  pain;  but  are  simply  the 
beneficent  checks  to  actions  that  are  essen- 
tially at  variance  with  bodily  welfare — checks 
in  the  absence  of  which  life  would  quickly  be 
destroyed  by  bodily  injuries.  It  is  the  pecul- 
iarity of  these  penalties,  if  we  must  so  call 
them,  that  they  are  nothing  more  than  the 
unavoidable  consequences  of  the  deeds  which 
they  follow : they  are  nothing  more  than  the 
inevitable  reactions  entailed  by  the  child’s 
actions. 

Let  it  be  further  borne  in  mind  that  these 
painful  reactions  are  proportionate  to  the  de- 
gree in  which  the  organic  laws  have  been 
transgressed.  A slight  accident  brings  a 
slight  pain,  a more  serious  one,  a greater 
pain.  When  a child  tumbles  over  the  door- 
step, it  is  not  ordained  that  it  shall  suffer  in 
excess  of  the  amount  necessary,  with  the 
view  of  making  it  still  more  cautious  than 
the  necessary  suffering  will  make  it.  But 
from  its  daily  experience  it  is  left  to  learn  the 
greater  or  less  penalties  of  greater  or  less  er- 
rors ; and  to  behave  accordingly. 

And  then  mark,  lastly,  that  these  natural 
reactions  which  follow  the  child’s  wrong  ac- 
tions, are  constant,  direct,  unhesitating,  and 
not  to  be  escaped.  No  threats:  but  a silent, 
rigorous  performance.  If  a child  runs  a pin 
into  its  finger,  pain  follows.  If  it  does  it 
again,  there  is  again  the  same  result : and  so 


164 


EDUCATION. 


on  perpetually.  In  all  its  dealings  with  sur- 
rounding inorganic  nature  it  finds  this  un- 
swerving persistence,  which  listens  to  no  ex- 
cuse, and  from  which  there  is  no  appeal ; and 
very  soon  recognizing  this  stern  though  be- 
neficent discipline,  it  becomes  extremely  care- 
ful not  to  transgress. 

Still  more  significant  will  these  general 
truths  appear,  when  we  remember  that  they 
hold  throughout  adult  life  as  well  as  through- 
out infantine  life.  It  is  by  an  experimentally- 
gained  knowledge  of  the  natural  consequences, 
that  men  and  women  are  checked  when  they 
go  wrong.  After  home  education  has  ceased, 
and  when  there  are  no  longer  parents  and 
teachers  to  forbid  this  or  that  kind  of  con- 
duct, there  comes  into  play  a discipline  like 
that  by  which  the  young  child  is  taught  its 
first  lessons  in  self-guidance.  If  the  youth 
entering  upon  the  business  of  life  idles  away 
his  time  and  fulfils  slowly  or  unskilfully  the 
duties  entrusted  to  him,  there  by  and  by  fol- 
lows the  natural  penalty:  he  is  discharged, 
and  left  to  suffer  for  awhile  the  evils  of  rela- 
tive poverty.  On  the  unpunctual  man,  failing 
alike  his  appointments  of  business  and  pleas- 
ure, there  continually  fall  the  consequent  in- 
conveniences, losses,  and  deprivations.  The 
avaricious  tradesman  who  charges  too  high  a 
rate  of  profit,  loses  his  customers,  and  so  is 
checked  in  his  greediness.  Diminishing  prac- 
tice teaches  the  inattentive  doctor  to  bestow 
more  trouble  on  his  patients.  The  too  credu- 
lous creditor  and  the  over-sanguine  specula- 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


165 


tor  alike  learn  by  the  difficulties  which  rash- 
ness entails  on  them,  the  necessity  of  being 
more  cautious  in  their  engagements.  And 
so  throughout  the  life  of  every  citizen.  In 
the  quotation  so  often  made  apropos  of  these 
cases — “The  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire ” — we 
see  not  only  that  the  analogy  between  this 
social  discipline  and  Nature’s  early  discipline 
of  infants  is  universally  recognized;  but  we 
also  see  an  implied  conviction  that  this  disci- 
pline is  of  the  most  efficient  kind.  Nay  more, 
this  conviction  is  not  only  implied,  but  dis- 
tinctly stated.  Every  one  has  heard  others 
confess  that  only  by  “dearly  bought  experi- 
ence ” had  they  been  induced  to  give  up  some 
bad  or  foolish  course  of  conduct  formerly 
pursued.  Every  one  has  heard,  in  the  criti- 
cisms passed  on  the  doings  of  this  spendthrift 
or  the  other  speculator,  the  remark  that  ad- 
vice was  useless,  and  that  nothing  but 4 4 bitter 
experience  ” would  produce  any  effect : noth- 
ing, that  is,  but  suffering  the  unavoidable 
consequences.  And  if  further  proof  be  needed 
that  the  penalty  of  the  natural  reaction  is  not 
only  the  most  efficient,  but  that  no  humanly- 
devised  penalty  can  replace  it,  we  have  such 
further  proof  in  the  notorious  ill-success  of 
our  various  penal  systems.  Out  of  the  many 
methods  of  criminal  discipline  that  have  been 
proposed  and  legally  enforced,  none  have  an- 
swered the  expectations  of  their  advocates. 
Not  only  have  artificial  punishments  failed 
to  produce  reformation,  but  they  have  in 
many  cases  increased  the  criminality.  The 


166 


EDUCATION. 


only  successful  reformatories  are  those  pri- 
vately-established ones  which  have  approxi- 
mated their  regime  to  the  method  of  Nature 
— which  have  done  little  more  than  adminis- 
ter the  natural  consequences  of  criminal  con- 
duct : the  natural  consequences  being,  that  by 
imprisonment  or  other  restraint,  the  criminal 
shall  have  his  liberty  of  action  diminished  as 
much  as  is  needful  for  the  safety  of  society ; 
and  that  he  shall  be  made  to  maintain  him- 
self while  living  under  this  restraint.  Thus 
we  see  not  only  that  the  discipline  by  which 
the  young  child  is  so  successfully  taught  to 
regulate  its  movements  is  also  the  discipline 
by  which  the  great  mass  of  adults  are  kept  in 
order,  and  more  or  less  improved;  but  that 
the  discipline  humanly-devised  for  the  worst 
adults,  fails  when  it  diverges  from  this  di- 
vinely-ordained discipline,  and  begins  to  suc- 
ceed when  it  approximates  to  it. 

Have  we  not  here,  then,  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple of  moral  education?  Must  we  not  infer 
that  the  system  so  beneficent  in  its  effects, 
alike  during  infancy  and  maturity,  will  be 
equally  beneficent  thoughout  youth  ? Can 
any  one  believe  that  the  method  which  an- 
swers so  well  in  the  first  and  the  last  divisions 
of  life  will  not  answer  in  the  intermediate  di- 
vision? Is  it  not  manifest  that  as  “minis- 
ters and  interpreters  of  Nature”  it  is  the 
function  of  parents  to  see  that  their  children 
habitually  experience  the  true  consequences 
of  their  conduct  — the  natural  reactions : 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


167 


neither  warding  them  off,  nor  intensifying 
them,  nor  putting  artificial  consequences  in 
place  of  them?  No  unprejudiced  reader  will 
hesitate  in  his  assent. 

Probably,  however,  not  a few  will  contend 
that  already  most  parents  do  this — that  the 
punishments  they  inflict  are,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  the  true  consequences  of  ill -conduct 
— that  parental  anger,  venting  itself  in  harsh 
words  and  deeds,  is  the  result  of  a child’s 
transgression — and  that,  in  the  suffering, 
physical  or  moral,  which  the  child  is  subject 
to,  it  experiences  the  natural  reaction  of  its 
misbehavior.  Along  with  much  error  this 
assertion,  doubtless,  contains  some  truth.  It 
is  unquestionable  that  the  displeasure  of 
fathers  and  mothers  is  a true  consequence  of 
juvenile  delinquency;  and  that  the  manifes- 
tation of  it  is  a normal  check  upon  such  de- 
linquency. It  is  unquestionable  that  the 
scoldings,  and  threats,  and  blows,  which  a 
passionate  parent  visits  on  offending  little 
ones,  are  effects  actually  produced  in  such  a 
parent  by  their  offences ; and  so  are,  in  some 
sort,  to  be  considered  as  among  the  natural 
reactions  of  their  wrong  actions.  And  we 
are  by  no  means  prepared  to  say  that  these 
modes  of  treatment  are  not  relatively  right — 
right,  that  is  in  relation  to  the  uncontrollable 
children  of  ill-controlled  adults : and  right  in 
relation  to  a state  of  society  in  which  such  ill- 
controlled  adults  make  up  the  mass  of  the 
people.  As  already  suggested,  educational 
systems,  like  political  and  other  institutions, 


168 


EDUCATION. 


are  generally  as  good  as  the  state  of  human 
nature  permits.  The  barbarous  children  of 
barbarous  parents  are  probably  only  to  be  re- 
strained by  the  barbarous  methods  which  such 
parents  spontaneously  employ ; while  submis- 
sion to  these  barbarous  methods  is  perhaps  the 
best  preparation  such  children  can  have  for 
the  barbarous  society  in  which  they  are  pres- 
ently tojplay  a part.  Conversely,  the  civilized 
members  of  a civilized  society  will  spontane- 
ously manifest  their  displeasure  in  less  vio- 
lent ways — will  spontaneously  use  milder 
measures : measures  strong  enough  for  their 
better-natured  children.  Thus  it  is  doubtless 
true  that,  in  so  far  as  the  expression  of  parent- 
al feeling  is  concerned,  the  principle  of  the 
natural  reaction  is  always  more  or  less  fol- 
lowed. The  system  of  domestic  government 
ever  gravitates  towards  its  right  form. 

But  now  observe  two  important  facts.  In 
the  first  place,  observe  that,  in  states  of  rapid 
transition  like  ours,  which  witness  a long- 
drawn  battle  between  old  and  new  theories 
and  old  and  new  practices,  the  educational 
methods  in  use  are  apt  to  be  considerably  out 
of  harmony  with  the  times.  In  deference  to 
dogmas  fit  only  for  the  ages  that  uttered 
them,  many  parents  inflict  punishments  that 
do  violence  to  their  own  feelings,  and  so  visit 
on  their  children  unnatural  reactions;  while 
other  parents,  enthusiastic  in  their  hopes  of 
immediate  perfection,  rush  to  the  opposite 
extreme.  And  then  observe,  in  the  second 
place,  that  the  discipline  on  which  we  are  in- 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


169 


sisting  is  not  so  much  the  experience  of  pa- 
rental approbation,  or  disapprobation,  which, 
in  most  cases,  is  only  a secondary  conse- 
quence of  a child’s  conduct ; but  it  is  the  expe- 
rience of  those  results  which  would  naturally 
flow  from  the  conduct  in  the  absence  of  pa- 
rental opinion  or  interference.  The  truly  in- 
structive and  salutary  consequences  are  not 
those  inflicted  by  parents  when  they  take 
upon  themselves  to  be  Nature’s  proxies ; but 
they  are  those  inflicted  by  Nature  herself. 
We  will  endeavor  to  make  this  distinction 
clear  by  a few  illustrations,  which,  while  they 
show  what  we  mean  by  natural  reactions  as 
contrasted  with  artificial  ones,  will  afford 
some  directly  practical  suggestions. 

In  every  family  where  there  are  young 
children  there  almost  daily  occur  cases  of 
what  mothers  and  servants  call  “making  a 
litter.”  A child  has  had  out  its  box  of  toys, 
and  leaves  them  scattered  about  the  floor. 
Or  a handful  of  flowers,  brought  in  from  a 
morning  walk,  is  presently  seen  dispersed 
over  tables  and  chairs.  Or  a little  girl,  mak- 
ing doll’s-clothes,  disfigures  the  room  with 
shreds.  In  most  cases  the  trouble  of  rectify- 
ing this  disorder  falls  anywhere  but  in  the 
right  place : if  in  the  nursery,  the  nurse  her- 
self, with  many  grumblings  about  “ tiresome 
little  Things,”  etc.,  undertakes  the  task;  if 
below  stairs,  the  task  usually  devolves  either 
on  one  of  the  elder  children  or  on  the  house- 
maid; the  transgressor  being  visited  with 
nothing  more  than  a scolding.  In  this  very 


170 


EDUCATION . 


simple  case,  however,  there  are  many  parents 
wise  enough  to  follow  out,  more  or  less  con- 
sistently, the  normal  course — that  of  making 
the  child  itself  collect  the  toys  or  shreds. 
The  labor  of  putting  things  in  order  is  the 
true  consequence  of  having  put  them  in  dis- 
order. Every  trader  in  his  office,  every  wife 
in  her  household,  has  daily  experience  of  this 
fact.  And  if  education  be  a preparation  for 
the  business  of  life,  then  every  child  should 
also,  from  the  beginning,  have  daily  experi- 
ence of  this  fact.  If  the  natural  penalty  be 
met  by  any  refractory  behavior  (which  it 
may  perhaps  be  where  the  general  system  of 
moral  discipline  previously  pursued  has  been 
bad),  then  the  proper  course  is  to  let  the  child 
feel  the  ulterior  reaction  consequent  on  its 
disobedience.  Having  refused  or  neglected 
to  pick  up  and  put  away  the  things  it  has 
scattered  about,  and  having  thereby  entailed 
the  trouble  of  doing  this  on  some  one  else,  the 
child  should,  on  subsequent  occasions,  be  de- 
nied the  means  of  giving  this  trouble.  When 
next  it  petitions  for  its  toy -box,  the  reply  of 
its  mamma  should  be — “The  last  time  you 
had  your  toys  you  left  them  lying  on  the 
floor,  and  Jane  had  to  pick  them  up.  Jane 
is  too  busy  to  pick  up  every  day  the  things 
you  leave  about ; and  I cannot  do  it  myself. 
So  that,  as  you  will  not  put  away  your  toys 
when  you  have  done  with  them,  I cannot  let 
you  have  them.”  This  is  obviously  a natural 
consequence,  neither  increased  nor  lessened; 
and  must  be  so  recognized  by  a child.  The 


MOBAL  EDUCATION. 


171 


penalty  comes,  too,  at  the  moment  when  it  is 
most  keenly  felt.  A new-born  desire  is  balked 
at  the  moment  of  anticipated  gratification ; 
and  the  strong  impression  so  produced  can 
scarcely  fail  to  have  an  effect  on  the  future 
conduct ; an  effect  which,  by  consistent  repe- 
tition, will  do  whatever  can  be  done  in  curing 
the  fault.  Add  to  which,  that,  by  this  meth- 
od, a child  is  early  taught  the  lesson  which 
cannot  be  learnt  too  soon,  that  in  this  world 
of  ours  pleasures  are  rightly  to  be  obtained 
only  by  labor. 

Take  another  case.  Not  long  since  we  had 
frequently  to  listen  to  the  reprimands  visited 
on  a little  girl  who  was  scarcely  ever  ready 
in  time  for  the  daily  walk.  Of  eager  disposi- 
tion, and  apt  to  become  thoroughly  absorbed 
in  the  occupation  of  the  moment,  Constance 
never  thought  of  putting  on  her  things  until 
the  rest  were  ready.  The  governess  and  the 
other  children  had  almost  invariably  to  wait ; 
and  from  the  mamma  there  almost  invaria- 
bly came  the  same  scolding.  Utterly  as  this 
system  failed  it  never  occurred  to  the  mam- 
ma to  let  Constance  experience  the  natural 
penalty.  Nor,  indeed,  would  she  try  it  when 
it  was  suggested  to  her.  In  the  world  the 
penalty  of  being  behind  time  is  the  loss  of 
some  advantage  that  would  else  have  been 
gained:  the  train  is  gone;  or  the  steamboat 
is  just  leaving  its  moorings ; or  the  best  things 
in  the  market  are  sold ; or  all  the  good  seats 
in  the  concert-room  are  filled.  And  every 
one,  in  cases  perpetually  occurring,  may  see 


172 


EDUCATION. 


that  it  is  the  prospective  deprivations  en- 
tailed by  being  too  late  which  prevent  people 
from  being  too  late.  Is  not  the  inference  ob- 
vious? Should  not  these  prospective  depriva- 
tions control  the  child’s  conduct  also?  If  Con- 
stance is  not  ready  at  the  appointed  time,  the 
natural  result  is  that  of  being  left  behind, 
and  losing  her  walk.  And  no  one  can,  we 
think,  doubt  that  after  having  once  or  twice 
remained  at  home  while  the  rest  were  enjoy- 
ing themselves  in  the  fields,  and  after  having 
felt  that  this  loss  of  a much-prized  gratifica- 
tion was  solely  due  to  want  of  promptitude, 
some  amendment  would  take  place.  At  any 
rate,  the  measure  would  be  more  effective 
than  that  perpetual  scolding  which  ends  only 
in  producing  callousness. 

Again,  when  children,  with  more  than  usual 
carelessness,  break  or  lose  the  things  given  to 
them,  the  natural  penalty — the  penalty  which 
makes  grown-up  persons  more  careful — is  the 
consequent  inconvenience.  The  want  of  the 
lost  or  damaged  article,  and  the  cost  of  sup- 
plying its  place,  are  the  experiences  by  which 
men  and  women  are  disciplined  in  these  mat- 
ters; and  the  experience  of  children  should 
be  as  much  as  possible  assimilated  to  theirs. 
We  do  not  refer  to  that  early  period  at  which 
toys  are  pulled  to  pieces  in  the  process  of 
learning  their  physical  properties,  and  at 
which  the  results  of  carelessness  cannot  be 
understood;  but  to  a later  period,  when  the 
meaning  and  advantages  of  property  are  per- 
ceived. When  a boy,  old  enough  to  possess  a 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


173 


penknife,  uses  it  so  roughly  as  to  snap  the 
blade,  or  leaves  it  in  the  grass  by  some  hedge- 
side,  where  he  was  cutting  a stick,  a thought- 
less parent,  or  some  indulgent  relative,  will 
commonly  forthwith  buy  him  another;  not 
seeing  that,  by  doing  this,  a valuable  lesson 
is  lost.  In  such  a case,  a father  may  properly 
explain  that  penknives  cost  money,  and  that 
to  get  money  requires  labor ; that  he  cannot 
afford  to  purchase  new  penknives  for  one 
who  loses  or  breaks  them ; and  that  until  he 
sees  evidence  of  greater  carefulness  he  must 
decline  to  make  good  the  loss.  A parallel  dis- 
cipline may  be  used  as  a means  of  checking 
extravagance. 

These  few  familiar  instances,  here  chosen  be- 
cause of  the  simplicity  with  which  they  illus- 
trate our  point,  will  make  clear  to  every  one 
the  distinction  between  those  natural  penal- 
ties which  we  contend  are  the  truly  efficient 
ones,  and  those  artificial  penalties  which  par- 
ents commonly  substitute  for  them.  Before 
going  on  to  exhibit  the  higher  and  subtler  ap- 
plications of  this  principle,  let  us  note  its 
many  and  great  superiorities  over  the  princi- 
ple, or  rather  the  empirical  practice,  which 
prevails  in  most  families. 

In  the  first  place,  right  conceptions  of  cause 
and  effect  are  early  formed ; and  by  frequent 
and  consistent  experience  are  eventually  ren- 
dered definite  and  complete.  Proper  conduct 
in  life  is  much  better  guaranteed  when  the 
good  and  evil  consequences  of  actions  are  ra- 
tionally understood,  than  when  they  are 


174 


EDUCATION. 


merely  believed  on  authority.  A child  who 
finds  that  disorderliness  entails  the  subse- 
quent trouble  of  putting  things  in  order,  or 
who  misses  a gratification  from  dilatoriness, 
or  whose  want  of  care  is  followed  by  the  loss 
or  breakage  of  some  much-prized  possession, 
not  only  experiences  a keenly-felt  conse- 
quence, but  gains  a knowledge  of  causation : 
both  the  one  and  the  other  being  just  like 
those  which  adult  life  will  bring.  Whereas 
a child  who  in  such  cases  receives  some  rep- 
rimand or  some  factitious  penalty,  not  only 
experiences  a consequence  for  which  it  often 
cares  very  little,  but  lacks  that  instruction 
respecting  the  essential  natures  of  good  and 
evil  conduct,  which  it  would  else  have  gath- 
ered. It  is  a vice  of  the  common  system  of 
artificial  rewards  and  punishments,  long  since 
noticed  by  the  clear-sighted,  that  by  substi- 
tuting for  the  natural  results  of  misbehavior 
certain  threatened  tasks  or  castigations,  it 
produces  a radically  wrong  standard  of  moral 
guidance.  Having  throughout  infancy  and 
boyhood  always  regarded  parental  or  tutorial 
displeasure  as  the  result  of  a forbidden  ac- 
tion, the  youth  has  gained  an  established  as- 
sociation of  ideas  between  such  action  and 
such  displeasure,  as  cause  and  effect;  and 
consequently  when  parents  and  tutors  have 
abdicated,  and  their  displeasure  is  not  to  be 
feared,  the  restraint  on  a forbidden  action  is 
in  great  measure  removed:  the  true  re- 
straints, the  natural  reactions,  having  yet  to 
be  learnt  by  sad  experience.  As  writes  one 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


175 


who  has  had  personal  knowledge  of  this  short- 
sighted system: — “Young  men  let  loose  from 
school,  particularly  those  whose  parents  have 
neglected  to  exert  their  influence,  plunge  into 
every  description  of  extravagance ; they  know 
no  rule  of  action — they  are  ignorant  of  the 
reasons  for  moral  conduct — they  have  no 
foundation  to  rest  upon — and  until  they  have 
been  severely  disciplined  by  the  world  are  ex- 
tremely dangerous  members  of  society.” 
Another  great  advantage  of  this  natural  sys- 
tem of  discipline  is,  that  it  is  a system  of  pure 
justice ; and  will  be  recognized  by  every  child 
as  such.  Whoso  suffers  nothing  more  than 
the  evil  which  obviously  follows  naturally 
from  his  own  misbehavior,  is  much  less  like- 
ly to  think  himself  wrongly  treated  than  if 
he  suffers  an  evil  artificially  inflicted  on  him ; 
and  this  will  be  true  of  children  as  of  men. 
Take  the  case  of  a boy  who  is  habitually  reck- 
less of  his  clothes — scrambles  through  hedges 
without  caution,  or  is  utterly  regardless  of 
mud.  If  he  is  beaten,  or  sent  to  bed,  he  is  apt 
to  regard  himself  as  ill-used ; and  his  mind  is 
more  likely  to  be  occupied  by  thinking  over 
his  injuries  than  repenting  of  his  transgres- 
sions. But  suppose  he  is  required  to  rectify 
as  far  as  he  can  the  harm  he  has  done — to 
clean  off  the  mud  with  which  he  has  cov- 
ered himself,  or  to  mend  the  tear  as  well  as 
he  can.  Will  he  not  feel  that  the  evil  is  one 
of  his  own  producing?  Will  he  not  while 
paying  this  penalty  be  continuously  conscious 
of  the  connection  between  it  and  its  cause? 


m 


EDUCATION . 


And  will  he  not,  spite  his  irritation,  recognize 
more  or  less  clearly  the  justice  of  the  arrange- 
ment? If  several  lessons  of  this  kind  fail  to 
produce  amendment — if  suits  of  clothes  are 
prematurely  spoiled — if  pursuing  this  same 
system  of  discipline  a father  declines  to  spend 
money  for  new  ones  until  the  ordinary  time 
has  elapsed — and  if,  meanwhile,  there  occur 
occasions  on  which,  having  no  decent  clothes 
to  go  in,  the  boy  is  debarred  from  joining  the 
rest  of  the  family  on  holiday  excursions  and 
fete  days,  it  is  manifest  that  while  he  will 
keenly  feel  the  punishment,  he  can  scarcely 
fail  to  trace  the  chain  of  causation,  and  to 
perceive  that  his  own  carelessness  is  the  ori- 
gin of  it;  and  seeing  this,  he  will  not  have 
that  same  sense  of  injustice  as  when  there  is 
no  obvious  connection  between  the  transgres- 
sion and  its  penalty. 

Again,  the  tempers  both  of  parents  and 
children  are  much  less  liable  to  be  ruffled 
under  this  system  than  under  the  ordinary 
system.  Instead  of  letting  children  expe- 
rience the  painful  results  which  naturally  fol- 
low from  wrong  conduct,  the  usual  course 
pursued  by  parents  is  to  inflict  themselves 
certain  other  painful  results.  A double  mis- 
chief arises  from  this.  Making,  as  they  do, 
multiplied  family  laws ; and  identifying  their 
own  supremacy  and  dignity  with  the  main- 
tenance of  these  laws ; it  happens  that  every 
transgression  comes  to  be  regarded  as  an 
offence  against  themselves,  and  a cause  of 
anger  on  their  part.  Add  to  which  the  fur- 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


177 


ther  irritations  which  result  from  taking  upon 
themselves,  in  the  shape  of  extra  labor  or 
cost,  those  evil  consequences  which  should 
have  been  allowed  to  fall  on  the  wrong-doers. 
Similarly  with  the  children.  Penalties  which 
the  necessary  reaction  of  things  brings  round 
upon  them — penalties  which  are  inflicted  by 
impersonal  agency,  produce  an  irritation  that 
is  comparatively  slight  and  transient ; where- 
as, penalties  which  are  voluntarily  inflicted 
by  a parent,  and  are  afterwards  remembered 
as  caused  by  him  or  her,  produce  an  irritation 
both  greater  and  more  continued.  Just  con- 
sider how  disastrous  would  be  the  result  if 
this  empirical  method  were  pursued  from  the 
beginning.  Suppose  it  were  possible  for  par- 
ents to  take  upon  themselves  the  physical 
sufferings  entailed  on  their  children  by  igno- 
rance and  awkwardness ; and  that  while  bear- 
ing these  evil  consequences  they  visited  on 
their  children  certain  other  evil  consequences, 
with  the  view  of  teaching  them  the  impro- 
priety of  their  conduct.  Suppose  that  when 
a child,  who  had  been  forbidden  to  meddle 
with  the  kettle,  spilt  some  boiling  water  on 
its  foot,  the  mother  vicariously  assumed  the 
scald  and  gave  a blow  in  place  of  it ; and  sim- 
ilarly in  all  other  cases.  Would  not  the  daily 
mishaps  be  sources  of  far  more  anger  than 
now?  Would  not  there  be  chronic  ill-temper 
on  both  sides?  Yet  an  exactly  parallel  policy 
is  pursued  in  after  years.  A father  who  pun- 
ishes his  boy  for  carelessly  or  wilfully  break- 
ing a sister’s  toy,  and  then  himself  pays  for  a 
12 


178 


EDUCATION. 


new  toy,  does  substantially  this  same  thing 
— inflicts  an  artificial  penalty  on  the  trans- 
gressor, and  takes  the  natural  penalty  on 
himself : his  own  feelings  and  those  of  the 
transgressor  being  alike  needlessly  irritated, 
If  he  simply  required  restitution  to  be  made, 
he  would  produce  far  less  heartburning.  If 
he  told  the  boy  that  a new  toy  must  be  bought 
at  his,  the  boy’s  cost,  and  that  his  supply  of 
pocket-money  must  be  withheld  to  the  needful 
extent,  there  would  be  much  less  cause  for 
ebullition  of  temper  on  either  side ; while  in 
the  deprivation  afterwards  felt,  the  boy 
would  experience  the  equitable  and  salutary 
consequence.  In  brief,  the  system  of  disci- 
pline by  natural  reactions  is  less  injurious  to 
temper,  alike  because  it  is  perceived  on  both 
sides  to  be  nothing  more  than  pure  justice, 
and  because  it  more  or  less  substitutes  the 
impersonal  agency  of  nature  for  the  personal 
agency  of  parents. 

Whence  also  follows  the  manifest  corollary, 
that  under  this  system  the  parental  and  filial 
relation  will  be  a more  friendly,  and  there- 
fore a more  influential  one.  Whether  in  par- 
ent or  child,  anger,  however  caused,  and  to 
whomsoever  directed,  is  more  or  less  detri- 
mental. But  anger  in  a parent  towards  a 
child,  and  in  a child  towards  a parent,  is  es- 
pecially detrimental ; because  it  weakens  that 
bond  of  sympathy  which  is  essential  to  a be- 
neficent control.  In  virtue  of  the  general  law 
of  association  of  ideas,  it  inevitably  results, 
both  in  young  and  old,  that  dislike  is  oon- 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


179 


tracted  towards  things  which  in  our  experi- 
ence are  habitually  connected  with  disagree- 
able feelings.  Or  where  attachment  origi- 
nally existed,  it  is  weakened , or  destroyed,  or 
turned  into  repugnance,  according  to  the 
quantity  of  painful  impressions  received. 
Parental  wrath,  with  its  accompanying  repri- 
mands and  castigations,  cannot  fail,  if  often 
repeated,  to  produce  filial  alienation;  while 
the  resentment  and  sulkiness  of  children  can- 
not fail  to  weaken  the  affection  felt  for  them, 
and  may  even  end  in  destroying  it.  Hence 
the  numerous  cases  in  which  parents  (and  es- 
pecially fathers,  who  are  commonly  deputed 
to  express  the  anger  and  inflict  the  punish- 
ment) are  regarded  with  indifference,  if  not 
with  aversion ; and  hence  the  equally  numer- 
ous cases  in  which  children  are  looked  upon 
as  inflictions.  Seeing,  then,  as  all  must  do, 
that  estrangement  of  this  kind  is  fatal  to  a 
salutary  moral  culture,  it  follows  that  par- 
ents cannot  be  too  solicitous  in  avoiding  oc- 
casions of  direct  antagonism  with  their  chil- 
dren— occasions  of  personal  resentment.  And 
therefore  they  cannot  too  anxiously  avail 
themselves  of  this  discipline  of  natural  conse- 
quences—this  system  of  letting  the  penalty  be 
inflicted  by  the  laws  of  things;  which,  by 
saving  the  parent  from  the  function  of  a 
penal  agent,  prevents  these  mutual  exaspera- 
tions and  estrangements. 

Thus  we  see  that  this  method  of  moral  cult- 
ure by  experience  of  the  normal  reactions 
which  is  the  divinely-ordained  method  alike 


130 


EDUCATION . 


for  infancy  and  for  adult  life,  is  equally  ap- 
plicable during  the  intermediate  childhood 
and  youth.  And  among  the  advantages  of 
this  method  we  see— First.  That  it  gives 
that  rational  comprehension  of  right  and 
wrong  conduct  which  results  from  actual  ex- 
perience of  the  good  and  bad  consequences 
caused  by  them.  Second.  That  the  child, 
suffering  nothing  more  than  the  painful  ef- 
fects brought  upon  it  by  its  own  wrong  ac- 
tions, must  recognize  more  or  less  clearly  the 
justice  of  the  penalties.  Third.  That,  rec- 
ognizing the  justice  of  the  penalties,  and  re- 
ceiving those  penalties  through  the  working 
of  things,  rather  than  at  the  hands  of  an  in- 
dividual, its  temper  will  be  less  disturbed; 
while  the  parent  occupying  the  compara- 
tively passive  position  of  taking  care  that  the 
natural  penalties  are  felt,  will  preserve  a com- 
parative equanimity.  And  Fourth.  That 
mutual  exasperation  being  thus  in  great 
measure  prevented,  a much  happier,  and  a 
more  influential  state  of  feeling,  will  exist  be- 
tween parent  and  child. 

“ But  what  is  to  be  done  with  more  serious 
misconduct?”  some  will  ask.  “How  is  this 
plan  to  be  carried  out  when  a petty  theft  has 
been  committed?  or  when  a lie  has  been  told? 
or  when  some  younger  brother  or  sister  has 
been  ill-used?  ” 

Before  replying  to  these  questions,  let  us 
consider  the  bearings  of  a few  illustrative 
facts. 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


181 


Living  in  the  family  of  his  brother-in-law, 
a friend  of  ours  had  undertaken  the  educa- 
tion of  his  little  nephew  and  niece.  This  he 
had  conducted,  more  perhaps  from  natural 
sympathy  than  from  reasoned-out  conclu- 
sions, in  the  spirit  of  the  method  above  set 
forth.  The  two  children  were  in  doors  his 
pupils  and  out  of  doors  his  companions. 
They  daily  joined  him  in  walks  and  botaniz- 
ing excursions,  eagerly  sought  out  plants  for 
him,  looked  on  while  he  examined  and  iden- 
tified them,  and  in  this  and  other  ways  were 
ever  gaining  both  pleasure  and  instruction  in 
his  society.  In  short,  morally  considered,  he 
stood  to  them  much  more  in  the  position  of 
parent  than  either  their  father  or  mother  did. 
Describing  to  us  the  results  of  this  policy,  he 
gave,  among  other  instances,  the  following. 
One  evening,  having  need  for  some  article  ly- 
ing in  another  part  of  the  house,  he  asked  lii-s 
nephew  to  fetch  it  for  him.  Deeply  inter- 
ested as  the  boy  was  in  some  amusement  of 
the  moment,  he,  contrary  to  his  wont,  either 
exhibited  great  reluctance  or  refused,  we  for- 
get which.  His  uncle,  disapproving  of  a co- 
ercive course,  fetched  it  himself ; merely  ex- 
hibiting by  his  manner  the  annoyance  this 
ill-behavior  gave  him.  And  when,  later  in 
the  evening,  the  boy  made  overtures  for  the 
usual  play,  they  were  gravely  repelled — the 
uncie  manifested  just  that  coldness  of  feeling 
naturally  produced  in  him,  and  so  let  the  boy 
experience  the  necessary  consequences  of  his 
conduct.  Next  morning  at  the  usual  time 


182 


EDUCATION . 


for  rising,  our  friend  heard  a new  voice  out- 
side the  door,  and  in  walked  his  little  nephew 
with  the  hot  water ; and  then  the  boy,  peer- 
ing about  the  room  to  see  what  else  could  be 
done,  exclaimed,  “ Oh ! you  want  your  boots,” 
and  forthwith  rushed  down  stairs  to  fetch 
them.  In  this  and  other  ways  he  showed  a 
true  penitence  for  his  misconduct ; he  endeav- 
ored by  unusual  services  to  make  up  for  the 
service  he  had  refused;  his  higher  feelings 
had  of  themselves  conquered  his  lower  ones, 
and  acquired  strength  by  the  conquest ; and 
he  valued  more  than  before  the  friendship  he 
thus  regained. 

This  gentleman  is  now  himself  a father; 
acts  on  the  same  system ; and  finds  it  answer 
completely.  He  makes  himself  thoroughly 
his  children’s  friend.  The  evening  is  longed 
for  by  them  because  he  will  be  at  home;  and 
they  especially  enjoy  the  Sunday  because  he 
is  with  them  all  day.  Thus  possessing  their 
perfect  confidence  and  affection,  he  finds  that 
the  simple  display  of  his  approbation  or  dis- 
approbation gives  him  abundant  power  of 
control.  If,  on  his  return  home,  he  hears  that 
one  of  his  boys  has  been  naughty,  he  behaves 
towards  him  with  that  comparative  coldness 
which  the  consciousness  of  the  boy’s  miscon- 
duct naturally  produces ; and  he  finds  this  a 
most  efficient  punishment.  The  mere  with- 
holding of  the  usual  caresses,  is  a source  of 
the  keenest  distress — produces  a much  more 
prolonged  fit  of  crying  than  a beating  would 
do.  And  the  dread  of  this  purely  moral  penal- 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


183 


ty  is,  he  says,  ever  present  during  his  absence : 
so  much  so,  that  frequently  during  the  day  his 
children  inquire  of  their  mamma  how  they 
have  behaved,  and  whether  the  report  will  be 
good.  Recently,  the  eldest,  an  active  urchin 
of  five,  in  one  of  those  bursts  of  animal  spirits 
common  in  healthy  children,  committed  sun- 
dry extravagances  during  his  mamma’s  ab- 
sence— cut  off  part  of  his  brother’s  hair  and 
wounded  himself  with  a razor  taken  from  his 
father’s  dressing-case.  Hearing  of  these  oc- 
currences on  his  return,  the  father  did  not 
speak  to  the  boy  either  that  night  or  next 
morning.  Not  only  was  the  tribulation  great, 
but  the  subsequent  effect  was,  that  when,  a 
few  days  after,  the  mamma  was  about  to  go 
out,  she  was  earnestly  entreated  by  the  boy 
not  to  do  so ; and  on  inquiry,  it  appeared  his 
fear  was  that  he  might  again  transgress  in 
her  absence. 

We  have  introduced  these  facts  before  reply- 
ing to  the  question — “ What  is  to  be  done  with 
the  graver  offences?”  for  the  purpose  of  first 
exhibiting  the  relation  that  may  and  ought  to 
be  established  between  parents  and  children ; 
for  on  the  existence  of  this  relation  depends  the 
successful  treatment  of  these  graver  offences. 
And  as  a further  preliminary,  we  must  now 
point  out  that  the  establishment  of  this  rela- 
tion will  result  from  adopting  the  system  we 
advocate.  Already  we  have  shown  that  by 
letting  a child  experience  simply  the  painful 
reactions  of  its  own  wrong  actions,  a parent  in 
great  measure  avoids  assuming  the  attitude 


184 


EDUCATION. 


of  an  enemy,  and  escapes  being  regarded  as 
one;  but  it  still  remains  to  be  shown  that 
where  this  course  has  been  consistently  pur- 
sued from  the  beginning,  a strong  feeling  of  ac- 
tive friendship  will  be  generated. 

At  present,  mothers  and  fathers  are  mostly 
considered  by  their  offspring  as  friend- 
enemies.  Determined  as  their  impressions 
inevitably  are  by  the  treatment  they  receive ; 
and  oscillating  as  that  treatment  does  between 
bribery  and  thwarting,  between  petting  and 
scolding,  between  gentleness  and  castigation ; 
children  necessarily  acquire  conflicting  beliefs 
respecting  the  parental  character.  A mother 
commonly  thinks  it  quite  sufficient  to  tell  her 
little  boy  that  she  is  his  best  friend ; and  as- 
suming that  he  is  in  duty  bound  to  believe 
her,  concludes  that  he  will  forthwith  do  so. 
4 1 It  is  all  for  your  good;  ” “I  know  what  is 
proper  for  you  better  than  you  do  yourself;  ” 
“You  are  not  old  enough  to  understand  it 
now,  but  when  you  grow  up  you  will  thank 
me  for  doing  what  I do ; ’’ — these,  and  like  as- 
sertions, are  daily  reiterated.  Meanwhile  the 
boy  is  daily  suffering  positive  penalties ; and 
is  hourly  forbidden  to  do  this,  that,  and  the 
other,  which  he  was  anxious  to  do.  By  words 
he  hears  that  his  happiness  is  the  end  in  view ; 
but  from  the  accompanying  deeds  he  habitu- 
ally receives  more  or  less  pain.  Utterly  in- 
competent as  he  is  to  understand  that  future 
which  his  mother  has  in  view,  or  how  this 
treatment  conduces  to  the  happiness  of  that 
future,  he  judges  by  such  results  as  he  feels ; 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


185 


and  finding  these  results  anything  but  pleas- 
urable, he  becomes  sceptical  respecting  these 
professions  of  friendship.  . And  is  it  not  folly 
to  expect  any  other  issue?  Must  not  the  child 
judge  by  such  evidence  as  he  has  got?  and 
does  not  this  evidence  seem  to  warrant  his 
conclusion?  The  mother  would  reason  in  just 
the  same  way  if  similarly  placed.  If,  in  the 
circle  of  her  acquaintance,  she  found  some  one 
who  was  constantly  thwarting  her  wishes,  ut- 
tering sharp  reprimands,  and  occasionally  in- 
flicting actual  penalties  on  her,  she  would  pay 
but  little  attention  to  any  professions  of  anxie- 
ty for  her  welfare  which  accompanied  these 
acts.  Why,  then,  does  she  suppose  that  her 
boy  will  conclude  otherwise? 

But  now  observe  how  different  will  be  the 
results  if  the  system  we  contend  for  be  con- 
sistently pursued — if  the  mother  not  only 
avoids  becoming  the  instrument  of  punish- 
ment, but  plays  the  part  of  a friend,  by  warn- 
ing her  boy  of  the  punishments  which  Nature 
will  inflict.  Take  a case ; and  that  it  may  il- 
lustrate the  mode  in  which  this  policy  is  to  be 
early  initiated,  let  it  be  one  of  the  simplest 
cases.  Suppose  that,  prompted  by  the  exper- 
imental spirit  so  conspicuous  in  children, 
whose  proceedings  instinctively  conform  to 
the  inductive  method  of  inquiry — suppose  that 
so  prompted  the  child  is  amusing  himself  by 
lighting  pieces  of  paper  in  the  candle  and 
watching  them  burn.  If  his  mother  is  of  the 
ordinary  unreflective  stamp,  she  will  either, 
on  the  plea  of  keeping  the  child  “ out  of  mis- 


186 


EDUCATION . 


• 

chief,”  or  from  fear  that  he  will  burn  himself , 
command  him  to  desist ; and  in  case  of  non- 
compliance  will  snatch  the  paper  from  him. 
On  the  other  hand,  should  he  be  so  fortunate 
as  to  have  a mother  of  sufficient  rationality, 
who  knows  that  this  interest  with  which  the 
child  is  watching  the  paper  burn  results  from 
a healthy  inquisitiveness,  without  which  he 
would  never  have  emerged  out  of  infantine 
stupidity,  and  who  is  also  wise  enough  to 
consider  the  moral  results  of  interference, 
she  will  reason  thus: — “If  I put  a stop  to 
this  I shall  prevent  the  acquirement  of  a 
certain  amount  of  knowledge.  It  is  true 
that  I may  save  the  child  from  a burn;  but 
what  then?  He  is  sure  to  burn  himself  some- 
time ; and  it  is  quite  essential  to  his  safety  in 
life  that  he  should  learn  by  experience  the 
properties  of  flame.  Moreover,  if  I forbid  him 
from  running  this  present  risk,  he  is  sure  here- 
after to  run  the  same  or  a greater  risk  when 
no  one  is  present  to  prevent  him ; whereas,  if 
he  should  have  any  accident  now  that  I am 
by,  I can  save  him  from  any  great  injury; 
add  to  which  the  advantage  that  he  will  have 
in  future  some  dread  of  fire,  and  will  be  less 
likely  to  burn  himself  to  death,  or  set  the 
house  in  a flame  when  others  are  absent. 
Furthermore,  were  I to  make  him  desist,  I 
should  thwart  him  in  the  pursuit  of  what  is  in 
itself  a purely  harmless,  and  indeed,  instruct- 
ive gratification ; and  he  would  be  sure  to  re- 
gard me  with  more  or  less  ill-feeling.  Igno- 
rant as  he  is  of  the  pain  from  which  I would 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


187 


save  him,  and  feeling  only  the  pain  of  a 
balked  desire,  he  could  not  fail  to  look  upon 
me  as  the  cause  of  that  pain.  To  save  him 
from  a hurt  which  he  cannot  conceive,  and 
which  has  therefore  no  existence  for  him,  I 
inflict  upon  him  a hurt  which  he  feels  keenly 
enough ; and  so  become,  from  his  point  of  view, 
a minister  of  evil.  My  best  course  then,  is 
simply  to  warn  him  of  the  danger,  and  to  be 
ready  to  prevent  any  serious  damage.”  And 
following  out  this  conclusion,  she  says  to  the 
child— “ I fear  you  will  hurt  yourself  if  you 
do  that.”  Suppose,  now,  that  the  child  per- 
severes, as  he  will  very  probably  do ; and  sup- 
pose that  he  ends  by  burning  himself.  What 
are  the  results?  In  the  first  place  he  has 
gained  an  experience  which  he  must  gain 
eventual^,  and  which,  for  his  own  safety  he 
cannot  gain  too  soon.  And  in  the  second  place, 
he  has  found  that  his  mother’s  disapproval  or 
warning  was  meant  for  his  welfare : he  has  a 
further  positive  experience  of  her  benevolence 
— a further  reason  for  placing  confidence  in 
her  judgment  and  her  kindness— a further 
reason  for  loving  her. 

Of  course,  in  those  occasional  hazards 
where  there  is  a risk  of  broken  limbs  or  other 
serious  bodily  injury,  forcible  prevention  is 
called  for.  But  leaving  out  these  extreme 
cases,  the  system  pursued  should  be  not  that 
of  guarding  a child  against  the  small  dangers 
intb  which  it  daily  runs,  but  that  of  advising 
and  warning  it  against  them.  And  by  con- 
sistently pursuing  this  course,  a much  strong- 


188 


EDUCATION . 


er  filial  affection  will  be  generated  than  com- 
monly exists.  If  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  disci- 
pline of  the  natural  reactions  is  allowed  to 
come  into  play — if  in  all  those  out-of-door 
scramblings  and  in-door  experiments,  by 
which  children  are  liable  to  hurt  themselves, 
they  are  allowed  to  persevere,  subject  only  to 
dissuasion  more  or  less  earnest  according  to 
the  risk,  there  cannot  fail  to  arise  an  ever-in- 
creasing faith  in  the  parental  friendship  and 
guidance.  Not  only,  as  before  shown,  does 
the  adoption  of  this  principle  enable  fathers 
and  mothers  to  avoid  the  chief  part  of  that 
odium  which  attaches  to  the  infliction  of  pos- 
itive punishment ; but,  as  we  here  see,  it  ena- 
bles them  further  to  avoid  the  odium  that  at- 
taches to  constant  thwartings ; and  even  to 
turn  each  of  those  incidents  which  commonly 
cause  squabbles,  into  a means  of  strengthen- 
ing the  mutual  good  feeling.  Instead  of  be- 
ing told  in  words,  which  deeds  seem  to  con- 
tradict, that  their  parents  are  their  best 
friends,  children  will  learn  this  truth  by  a 
consistent  daily  experience ; and  so  learning 
it,  will  acquire  a degree  of  trust  and  attach- 
ment which  nothing  else  can  give. 

And  now  having  indicated  the  much  more 
sympathetic  relation  which  must  result  from 
the  habitual  use  of  this  method,  let  us  re- 
turn to  the  question  above  put— How  is 
this  method  to  be  applied  to  the  graver  of- 
fences? 

Note,  in  the  first  place,  that  these  graver 
offences  are  likely  to  be  both  less  frequent  and 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


189 


less  grave  under  the  regime  we  have  described 
than  under  the  ordinary  regime.  The  perpet- 
ual ill-behavior  of  many  children  is  itself  the 
consequence  of  that  chronic  irritation  in 
which  they  are  kept  by  bad  management. 
The  state  of  isolation  and  antagonism  pro- 
duced by  frequent  punishment,  necessarily 
deadens  the  sympathies;  necessarily,  there- 
fore, opens  the  way  to  those  transgressions 
which  the  sympathies  should  check.  That 
harsh  treatment  which  children  of  the  same 
family  inflict  on  each  other  is  often,  in  great 
measure,  a reflex  of  the  harsh  treatment  they 
receive  from  adults — partly  suggested  by  di- 
rect example,  and  partly  generated  by  the  ill- 
temper  and  the  tendency  to  vicarious  retalia- 
tion, which  follow  chastisements  and  scold- 
ings. It  cannot  he  questioned  that  the  greater 
activity  of  the  affections  and  happier  state  of 
feeling,  maintained  in  children  by  the  disci- 
pline we  have  described,  must  prevent  their 
sins  against  each  other  from  being  either  so 
great  or  so  frequent.  Moreover,  the  still 
more  reprehensible  offences,  as  lies  and  petty 
thefts,  will,  by  the  same  causes,  be  dimin- 
ished. Domestic  estrangement  is  a fruitful 
source  of  such  transgressions.  It  is  a law  of 
human  nature,  visible  enough  to  all  who  ob- 
serve, that  those  who  are  debarred  the  higher 
gratifications  fall  back  upon  the  lower ; those 
who  have  no  sympathetic  pleasures  seek  self- 
ish ones ; and  hence,  conversely,  the  mainte- 
nance of  happier  relations  between  parents 
and  children  is  calculated  to  diminish  the 


190 


EDUCATION. 


number  of  those  offences  of  which  selfishness 
is  the  origin. 

When,  however,  such  offences  are  commit- 
ted, as  they  will  occasionally  be  even  under 
the  best  system,  the  discipline  of  conse- 
quences may  still  be  resorted  to ; and  if  there 
exist  that  bond  of  confidence  and  affection 
which  we  have  described,  this  discipline  will 
be  found  efficient.  For  what  are  the  natural 
consequences,  say,  of  a theft?  They  are  of 
two  kinds — direct  and  indirect.  The  direct 
consequence,  as  dictated  by  pure  equity,  is 
that  of  making  restitution.  An  absolutely 
just  ruler  (and  every  parent  should  aim  to  be 
one)  will  demand  that,  wherever  it  is  possi- 
ble, a wrong  act  shall  be  undone  by  a right 
one:  and  in  the  case  of  theft  this  implies 
either  the  restoration  of  the  thing  stolen,  or, 
if  it  is  consumed,  then  the  .giving  of  an  equiv- 
alent : which,  in  the  case  of  a child,  may  be 
effected  out  of  its  pocket-money.  The  indi- 
rect and  more  serious  consequence  is  the 
grave  displeasure  of  parents — a consequence 
which  inevitably  follows  among  all  peoples 
sufficiently  civilized  to  regard  theft  as  a 
crime ; and  the  manifestation  of  this  displeas- 
ure is,  in  this  instance,  the  most  severe  of 
the  natural  reactions  produced  by  the  wrong 
action.  “ But,”  it  will  be  said,  ‘‘the  manifes- 
tation of  parental  displeasure,  either  in  words 
or  blows,  is  the  ordinary  course  in  these 
cases:  the  method  leads  here  to  nothing 
new.”  Very  true.  Already  we  have  ad^ 
mitted  that,  in  some  directions,  this  method 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


191 


is  spontaneously  pursued.  Already  we  have 
shown  that  there  is  a more  or  less  manifest 
tendency  for  educational  systems  to  gravi- 
tate towards  the  true  system.  And  here  we 
may  remark,  as  before,  that  the  intensify  bi 
this  natural  reaction  will,  in  the  "beneficent 
order  of  things,  adjust  itself  to  the  require- 
ments— that  this  parental  displeasure  will 
vent  itself  in  violent  measures  during  com- 
paratively barbarous  times,  when  the  chil- 
dren are  also  comparatively  barbarous ; and 
will  express  itself  less  cruelly  in  those  more 
advanced  social  states  in  which,  by  implica- 
tion, the  children  are  amenable  to  milder 
treatment.  But  what  it  chiefly  concerns  us 
here  to  observe  is,  that  the  manifestation  of 
strong  parental  displeasure,  produced  by  one 
of  these  graver  offences,  will  be  potent  for 
good  just  in  proportion  to  the  warmth  of  the 
attachment  existing  between  parent  and  child. 
Just  in  proportion  as  the  discipline  of  the  natur- 
al consequences  has  been  consistently  pursued 
in  other  cases,  will  it  be  efficient  in  this  case. 
Proof  is  within  the  experience  of  all,  if  they 
will  look  for  it. 

For  does  not  every  man  know  that  when 
he  has  offended  another  person,  the  amount 
of  genuine  regret  he  feels  (of  course,  leaving 
worldly  considerations  out  of  the  question) 
varies  with  the  degree  of  sympathy  he  has 
for  that  person.  Is  he  not  conscious'  that 
when  the  person  offended  stands  to  him  in  the 
position  of  an  enemy,  the  having  given  him 
annoyance  is  apt  to  be  a source  rather  of  so- 


192 


EDUCATION. 


cret  satisfaction  than  of  sorrow?  Does  he 
not  remember  that  where  umbrage  has  been 
taken  by  some  total  stranger,  he  has  felt 
much  less  concern  than  he  would  have  done 
DM  such  umbrage  been  taken  by  one  with 
whom  no  vas  intimate?  While,  conversely, 
has  not  the  anger  of  an  admired  and  cher- 
ished friend  been  regarded  by  him  as  a 
serious  misfortune,  long  and  keenly  regret- 
ted? Clearly,  then,  the  effects  of  parental 
displeasure  upon  children  must  similarly 
depend  upon  the  pre-existing  relationship. 
Where  there  is  an  established  alienation,  the 
feeling  of  a child  who  has  transgressed  is  a 
purely  selfish  fear  of  the  evil  consequences 
likely  to  fall  upon  it  in  the  shape  of  physical 
penalties  or  deprivations;  and  after  these 
evil  consequences  have  been  inflicted,  there 
are  aroused  an  antagonism  and  dislike  which 
are  morally  injurious,  and  tend  further  to 
increase  the  alienation.  On  the  contrary, 
where  there  exists  a warm  filial  affection  pro- 
duced by  a consistent  parental  friendship— a 
friendship  not  dogmatically  asserted  as  an 
excuse  for  punishments  and  denials,  but 
daily  exhibited  in  ways  that  a child  can  com- 
prehend— a friendship  which  avoids  need- 
less thwartings,  which  warns  against  im- 
pending evil  consequences,  and  which  sym- 
pathizes with  juvenile  pursuits — there  the 
state  of  mind  caused  by  parental  displeasure 
will  not  only  be  salutary  as  a check  to  future 
misconduct  of  like  kind,  but  will  also  be  in- 
trinsically salutary.  The  moral  pain  conse- 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


193 


quent  upon  having,  for  the  time  being,  lost 
so  loved  a friend,  will  stand  in  place  of  the 
physical  pain  usually  inflicted;  and  wffiere 
this  attachment  exists,  will  prove  equally,  if 
not  more,  efficient.  While  instead  of  the 
fear  and  vindictiveness  excited  by  the  one 
course,  there  will  be  excited  by  the  other 
more  or  less  of  sympathy  with  parental  sor- 
row, a genuine  regret  for  having  caused  it, 
and  a desire,  by  some  atonement,  to  re-estab- 
lish the  habitual  friendly  relationship.  In- 
stead of  bringing  into  play  those  purely  ego- 
istic feelings  wffiose  predominance  is  the 
cause  of  criminal  acts,  there  will  be  brought 
into  play  those  altruistic  feelings  which  check 
criminal  acts.  Thus  the  discipline  of  the 
natural  consequences  is  applicable  to  grave 
as  well  as  trivial  faults ; and  the  practice  of 
it  conduces  not  simply  to  the  repression,  but 
to  the  eradication  of  such  faults. 

In  brief,  the  truth  is  that  savageness  begets 
savageness,  and  gentleness  begets  gentleness. 
Children  wffio  are  unsympathetically  treat- 
ed become  relatively  unsympathetic ; where- 
as treating  them  with  due  fellow-feeling  is 
a means  of  cultivating  their  fellow-feeling. 
With  family  governments  as  with  political 
ones,  a harsh  despotism  itself  generates  a 
great  part  of  the  crimes  it  has  to  repress; 
while  conversely  a mild  and  liberal  rule  not 
only  avoids  many  causes  of  dissension,  but 
so  ameliorates  the  tone  of  feeling  as  to  dimin- 
ish the  tendency  to  transgression.  As  John 
Locke  long  since  remarked,  ‘ 4 Great  severity 
13 


194 


EDUCATION . 


of  punishment  does  but  very  little  good,  nay, 
great  harm,  in  education ; and  I believe  it 
will  be  found  that,  cceteris  paribus,  those 
children  who  have  been  most  chastised  sel- 
dom make  the  best  men.”  In  confirmation 
of  which  opinion  we  may  cite  the  fact  not 
long  since  made  public  by  Mr.  Rogers,  Chap- 
lain of  the  Pentonville  Prison,  that  those  ju- 
venile criminals  who  have  been  whipped  are 
those  who  most  frequently  return  to  prison. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  exhibiting  the  benefi- 
cial effects  of  a kinder  treatment,  we  will  in- 
stance the  fact  stated  to  us  by  a French  lady, 
in  whose  house  we  recently  staid  in  Paris. 
Apologizing  for  the  disturbance  daily  caused 
by  a little  boy  who  was  unmanageable  both 
at  home  and  at  school,  she  expressed  her  fear 
that  there  was  no  remedy  save  that  which 
had  succeeded  in  the  case  of  an  elder  brother ; 
namely,  sending  him  to  an  English  school. 
She  explained  that  at  various  schools  in 
Paris  this  elder  brother  had  proved  utterly 
untractable;  that  in  despair  they  had  fol- 
lowed the  advice  to  send  him  to  England; 
and  that  on  his  return  home  he  was  as  good 
as  he  had  before  been  bad.  And  this  remark- 
able change  she  ascribed  entirely  to  the  com- 
parative mildness  of  the  English  discipline. 

After  this  exposition  of  principles,  our  re- 
maining space  may  best  be  occupied  by  a few 
of  the  chief  maxims  and  rules  deducible  from 
them ; and  with  a view  to  brevity  we  will  put 
these  in  a more  or  less  hortatory  form. 

Do  not  expect  from  a child  any  great 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


195 


amount  of  moral  goodness.  During  early 
years  every  civilized  man  passes  through  that 
phase  of  character  exhibited  by  the  barbarous 
race  from  which  he  is  descended.  As  the 
child’s  features— flat  nose,  forward-opening 
nostrils,  large  lips,  wide-apart  eyes,  absent 
frontal  sinus,  etc. — resemble  for  a time  those 
of  the  savage,  so,  too,  do  his  instincts.  Hence 
the  tendencies  to  cruelty,  to  thieving,  to  ly- 
ing, so  general  among  children — tendencies 
which,  even  without  the  aid  of  discipline,  will 
become  more  or  less  modified  just  as  the  feat- 
ures do.  The  popular  idea  that  children  are 
“ innocent,”  while  it  may  be  true  in  so  far  as 
it  refers  to  evil  knowledge , is  totally  false  in 
so  far  as  it  refers  to  evil  impulses,  as  half  an 
hour’s  observation  in  the  nursery  will  prove 
to  any  one.  Boys  when  left  to  themselves, 
as  at  a public  school,  treat  each  other  far 
more  brutally  than  men  do ; and  were  they 
left  to  themselves  at  an  earlier  age  their  bru- 
tality would  be  still  more  conspicuous. 

Not  only  is  it  unwise  to  set  up  a high  stand- 
ard for  juvenile  good  conduct,  but  it  is  even 
unwise  to  use  very  urgent  incitements  to  such 
good  conduct.  Already  most  people  recog- 
nize the  detrimental  results  of  intellectual 
precocity ; but  there  remains  to  be  recognized 
the  truth  that  there  is  a moral  precocity 
which  is  also  detrimental.  Our  higher  moral 
faculties,  like  our  higher  intellectual  ones, 
are  comparatively  complex.  By  consequence 
they  are  both  comparatively  late  in  their  evo- 
lution. And  with  the  one  as  with  the  other, 


196 


EDUCATION. 


a very  early  activity  produced  by  stimulation 
will  be  at  the  expense  of  the  future  character. 
Hence  the  not  uncommon  fact  that  those  who 
during  childhood  were  instanced  as  models 
of  juvenile  goodness,  by  and  by  undergo  some 
disastrous  and  seemingly  inexplicable  change, 
and  end  by  being  not  above  but  below  par; 
while  relatively  exemplary  men  are  often  the 
issue  of  a childhood  by  no  means  so  promis- 
ing. 

Be  content,  therefore,  with  moderate  meas- 
ures and  moderate  results.  Constantly  bear 
in  mind  the  fact  that  a higher  morality,  like 
a higher  intelligence,  must  be  reached  by  a 
slow  growth;  and  you  will  then  have  more 
patience  with  those  imperfections  of  nature 
which  your  child  hourly  displays.  You  will 
be  less  prone  to  that  constant  scolding,  and 
threatening,  and  forbidding,  by  which  many 
parents  induce  a chronic  domestic  irritation, 
in  the  foolish  hope  that  they  will  thus  make 
their  children  what  they  should  be. 

This  comparatively  liberal  form  of  domestic 
government,  which  does  not  seek  despotically 
to  regulate  all  the  details  of  a child’s  conduct, 
necessarily  results  from  the  system  for  which 
we  have  been  contending.  Satisfy  yourself 
with  seeing  that  your  child  always  suffers 
the  natural  consequences  of  his  actions,  and 
you  will  avoid  that  excess  of  control  in  which 
so  many  parents  err.  Leave  him  wherever 
you  can  to  the  discipline  of  experience,  and 
you  will  so  save  him  froni  that  hothouse 
virtue  which  over-regulation  produces  in 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


197 


yielding  natures,  or  that  demoralizing  antago* 
nism  which  it  produces  in  independent  ones. 

By  aiming  in  all  cases  to  administer  the 
natural  reactions  to  your  child’s  actions,  you 
will  put  an  advantageous  check  upon  your 
own  temper.  The  method  of  moral  education 
pursued  by  many,  we  fear  by  most,  parents, 
is  little  else  than  that  of  venting  their  anger 
in  the  way  that  first  suggests  itself.  The 
slaps,  and  rough  shakings,  and  sharp  words, 
with  which  a mother  commonly  visits  her 
offspring’s  small  offences  (many  of  them  not 
offences  considered  intrinsically),  are  very 
generally  but  the  manifestations  of  her  own 
ill-controlled  feelings — result  much  more 
from  the  promptings  of  those  feelings  than 
from  a wish  to  benefit  the  offenders.  While 
they  are  injurious  to  her  own  character,  these 
ebullitions  tend,  by  alienating  her  children 
and  by  decreasing  their  respect  for  her,  to 
diminish  her  influence  over  them.  But  by 
pausing  in  each  case  of  transgression  to  con- 
sider what  is  the  natural  consequence,  and 
how  that  natural  consequence  may  best  be 
brought  home  to  the  transgressor,  some  little 
time  is  necessarily  obtained  for  the  mas- 
tery of  yourself ; the  mere  blind  anger  first 
aroused  in  you  settles  down  into  a less  vehe- 
ment feeling,  and  one  not  so  likely  to  mis- 
lead you. 

Do  not,  however,  seek  to  behave  as  an 
utterly  passionless  instrument.  Bemember 
that  besides  the  natural  consequences  of  your 
child’s  conduct  which  the  working  of  things 


198 


EDUCATION. 


tends  to  bring  round  on  him,  your  own  ap- 
probation or  disapprobation  is  also  a natural 
consequence,  and  one  of  the  ordained  agen- 
cies for  guiding  him.  The  terror  which  w~e 
have  been  combating  is  that  of  substituting 
parental  displeasure  and  its  artificial  penal- 
ties, for  the  penalties  which  nature  has  estab- 
lished. But  while  it  should  not  be  substituted 
for  these  natural  penalties,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  it  should  not,  in  some  form,  ac- 
company them.  The  secondary  kind  of  pun- 
ishment should  not  usurp  the  place  of  the 
primary  kind;  but,  in  moderation,  it  may 
rightly  supplement  the  primary  kind.  Such 
amount  of  disapproval,  or  sorrow,  or  indigna- 
tion, as  you  feel,  should  be  expressed  in  words 
or  manner  or  otherwise;  subject,  of  course, 
to  the  approval  of  your  judgment.  The 
degree  and  kind  of  feeling  produced  in 
you  will  necessarily  depend  upon  your 
own  character,  and  it  is  therefore  useless 
to  say  it  should  be  this  or  that.  All  that 
can  be  recommended  is,  that  you  should  aim 
to  modify  the  feeling  into  that  which  you 
believe  ought  to  be  entertained.  Beware, 
however,  of  the  two  extremes ; not  only  in 
respect  of  the  intensity,  but  in  respect  of  the 
duration  of  your  displeasure.  On  the  one 
hand,  anxiously  avoid  that  weak  impulsive- 
ness, so  general  among  mothers,  which  scolds 
and  forgives  almost  in  the  same  breath.  On 
the  other  hand,  do  not  unduly  continue  to 
show  estrangement  of  feeling,  lest  you  accus- 
tom your  child  to  do  without  your  friendship 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


199 


and  so  lose  your  influence  over  him.  The 
moral  reactions  called  forth  from  you  by  your 
child’s  actions,  you  should  as  much  as  possi- 
ble assimilate  to  those  which  you  conceive 
would  be  called  forth  from  a parent  of  per- 
fect nature. 

Be  sparing  of  commands.  Command  only 
in  those4  cases  in  which  other  means  are  inap- 
plicable, or  have  failed.  “In frequent  orders 
the  parents’  advantage  is  more  considered 
than  the  child’s,”  says  Bichter.  As  in  primi- 
tive societies  a breach  of  law  is  punished,  not 
so  much  because  it  is  intrinsically  wrong  as 
because  it  is  a disregard  of  the  king’s  author- 
ity— a rebellion  against  him ; so  in  many  fam- 
ilies, the  penalty  visited  on  a transgressor 
proceeds  less  from  reprobation  of  the  offence 
than  from  anger  at  the  disobedience.  Listen 
to  the  ordinary  speeches — “How  dare  you 
disobey  me?  ” “I  tell  you  I’ll  make  you  do  it, 
sir  ” “ i’ll  soon  teach  you  who  is  master  ” — 

and  then  consider  what  the  words,  the  tone, 
and  the  manner  imply.  A determination  to 
subjugate  is  much  more  conspicuous  in  them 
than  an  anxiety  for  the  child’s  welfare.  For 
the  time  being  the  attitude  of  mind  differs  but 
little  from  that  of  the  despot  bent  on  punish- 
ing a recalcitrant  subject.  The  right-feeling 
parent,  however,  like  the  philanthropic  legis- 
lator, will  not  rejoice  in  coercion,  but  will  re- 
joice in  dispensing  with  coercion.  He  will  do 
without  law  in  all  cases  where  other  modes  of 
regulating  conduct  can  be  successfully  em- 
ployed ; and  he  will  regret  the  having  recourse 


200 


EDUCATION. 


to  law  when  it  is  necessary.  As  Richter  re- 
marks— ‘ 4 The  best  rule  in  politics  is  said  to  be 
lpas  trop  gouverner:  ’ it  is  also  true  in  educa- 
tion.” And  in  spontaneous  conformity  with 
this  maxim,  parents  whose  lust  of  dominion 
is  restrained  by  a true  sense  of  duty,  will  aim 
to  make  their  children  control  themselves 
wherever  it  is  possible,  and  will  fall  back  upon 
absolutism  only  as  a last  resort. 

But  whenever  you  do  command,  command 
with  decision  and  consistency.  If  the  case  is 
one  which  really  cannot  be  otherwise  dealt 
with,  then  issue  your  fiat,  and  having  issued 
it,  never  afterwards  swerve  from  it.  Consider 
well  beforehand  what  you  are  going  to  do; 
weigh  all  the  consequences;  think  whether 
your  firmness  of  purpose  will  be  sufficient; 
and  then,  if  you  finally  make  the  law,  enforce 
it  uniformly  at  whatever  cost.  Let  your  pen- 
alties be  like  the  penalties  inflicted  by  inani- 
mate nature — inevitable.  The  hot  cinder 
burns  a child  the  first  time  he  seizes  it;  it 
burns  him  the  second  time ; it  burns  him  the 
third  time ; it  burns  him  every  time ; and  he 
very  soon  learns  not  to  touch  the  hot  cinder. 
If  you  are  equally  consistent — if  the  conse- 
quences which  you  tell  your  child  will  follow 
certain  acts,  follow  with  like  uniformity,  he 
will  soon  come  to  respect  your  laws  as  he  does 
those  of  Nature.  And  this  respect  once  estab- 
lished will  prevent  endlesj  domestic  evils.  Of 
errors  in  education  one  of  the  worst  is  that  of 
inconsistency.  As  in  a community,  crimes 
multiply  when  there  is  no  certain  administra* 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


201 


fcion  of  justice;  so  in  a family,  an  immense 
increase  of  transgressions  results  from  a hesi- 
tating or  irregular  infliction  of  penalties.  A# 
weak  mother,  who  perpetually  threatens  and 
rarely  performs — who  makes  rules  in  haste 
and  repents  of  them  at  leisure — who  treats 
the  same  offence  now  with  severity  and 
now  with  leniency,  according  as  the  passing 
humor  dictates,  is  laying  up  miseries  both 
for  herself  and  her  children.  She  is  making 
herself  contemptible  in  their  eyes ; she  is  set- 
ting them  an  example  of  uncontrolled  feelings ; 
she  is  encouraging  them  to  transgress  by  the 
prospect  of  probable  impunity ; she  is  entail- 
ing endless  squabbles  and  accompanying  dam- 
age to  her  own  temper  and  the  tempers  of  her 
little  ones;  she  is  reducing  their  minds  to  a 
moral  chaos,  which  after  years  of  hitter  expe- 
rience will  with  difficulty  bring  into  order. 
Better  even  a barbarous  form  of  domestic 
government  carried  out  consistently,  than  a 
humane  one  inconsistently  carried  out.  Again 
we  say,  avoid  coercive  measures  whenever  it 
is  possible  to  do  so ; but  when  you  find  despot- 
ism really  necessary,  be  despotic  in  good 
earnest. 

Bear  constantly  in  mind  the  truth  that  the 
aim  of  your  discipline  should  be  to  produce  a 
self-governing  being ; not  to  produce  a being 
to  be  governed  by  others.  W ere  your  children 
fated  to  pass  their  lives  as  slaves,  you  could 
not  too  much  accustom  them  to  slavery  dur- 
ing their  childhood ; but  as  they  are  by  and  by 
to  be  free  men,  with  no  one  to  control  their 


202 


EDUCATION. 


daily  conduct,  you  cannot  too  much  accustom 
them  to  self-control  while  they  are  still  under 
your  eye.  This  it  is  which  makes  the  system 
%of  discipline  by  natural  consequences,  so  espe- 
cially appropriate  to  the  social  state  which  we 
in  England  have  now  reached.  Under  early, 
tyrannical  forms  of  society,  when  one  of  the 
chief  evils  the  citizen  had  to  fear  was  the  an- 
ger of  his  superiors,  it  was  well  that  during 
childhood  parental  vengeance  should  be  a 
predominant  means  of  government.  But  now 
that  the  citizen  has  little  to  fear  from  any  one 
— now  that  the  good  or  evil  which  he  experi- 
ences throughout  life  is  mainly  that  which  in 
the  nature  of  things  results  from  his  own  con- 
duct, it  is  desirable  that  from  his  first  years 
he  should  begin  to  learn,  experimentally,  the 
good  or  evil  consequences  which  naturally  fol- 
low this  or  that  conduct.  Aim,  therefore,  to 
diminish  the  amount  of  parental  government 
as  fast  as  you  can  substitute  for  it  in  your 
child’s  mind  that  self-government  arising 
from  a foresight  of  results.  In  infancy  a con- 
siderable amount  of  absolutism  is  necessary. 
A three-year-old  urchin  playing  with  an  open 
razor,  cannot  be  allowed  to  learn  by  this  dis- 
cipline of  consequences ; for  the  consequences 
may,  in  such  case,  be  too  serious.  But  as 
intelligence  increases,  the  number  of  instances 
calling  for  peremptory  interference  may  be, 
and  should  be,  diminished ; with  the  view  of 
gradually  ending  them  as  maturity  is  ap- 
proached. All  periods  of  transition  are  dan- 
gerous ; and  the  most  dangerous  is  the  transi- 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


203 


tion  fo  m the  restraint  of  the  family  circle  to 
the  non-restraint*  of  the  world.  Hence  the 
importance  of  pursuing  the  policy  we  advo- 
cate; which,  alike  by  cultivating  a child’s 
faculty  of  self-restraint,  by  continually  in- 
creasing .the  degree  in  which  it  is  left  to  its 
self-constraint,  and  by  so  bringing  it,  step 
by  step,  to  a state  of  unaided  self-restraint, 
obliterates  the  ordinary  sudden  and  hazard- 
ous change  from  externally -governed  youth 
to  internally  governed  maturity.  Let  the  his- 
tory of  your  domestic  rule  typify,  in  little,  the 
history  of  our  political  rule : at  the  outset,  au- 
tocratic control,  where  control  is  really  need- 
ful ; by  and  by  an  incipient  constitutionalism, 
in  which  the  liberty  of  the  subject  gains  some 
express  recognition ; successive  extensions  of 
this  liberty  of  the  subject;  gradually  ending 
in  parental  abdication. 

Do  not  regret  the  exhibition  of  considerable 
self-will  on  the  part  of  your  children.  It  is 
the  correlative  of  that  diminished  coercive' 
ness  so  conspicuous  in  modern  education. 
The  greater  tendency  to  assert  freedom  of  acj 
tion  on  the  one  side,  corresponds  to  the 
smaller  tendency  to  tyrannize  on  the  other. 
They  both  indicate  an  approach  to  the  sys- 
tem of  discipline  we  contend  for,  under  which 
children  will  be  more  and  more  led  to  rule 
themselves  by  the  experience  of  natural  con- 
sequences ; and  they  are  both  the  accompani- 
ments of  our  more  advanced  social  state. 
The  independent  English  boy  is  the  father  oi 
the  independent  English  man ; and  you  can- 


204 


EDUCATION. 


not  have  the  last  without  the  first.  German 
teachers  say  that  they  had  rather  manage  a 
dozen  German  boys  than  one  English  one. 
Shall  we,  therefore,  wish  that  our  boys  had 
the  manageableness  of  the  German  ones,  and 
with  it  the  submissiveness  and  political  serf- 
dom of  adult  Germans  ? Or  shall  we  not 
rather  tolerate  in  our  boys  those  feelings 
which  make  them  free  men,  and  modify  our 
methods  accordingly  ? 

Lastly,  always  remember  that  to  educate 
rightly  is  not  a simple  and  easy  thing,  but  a 
complex  and  extremely  difficult  thing:  the 
hardest  task  which  devolves  upon  adult  life. 
The  rough  and  ready  style  of  domestic  gov- 
ernment is  indeed  practicable  by  the  meanest 
and  most  uncultivated  intellects.  Slaps  and 
sharp  words  are  penalties  that  suggest  them- 
selves alike  to  the  least  reclaimed  barbarian 
and  the  most  stolid  peasant.  Even  brutes 
can  use  this  method  of  discipline ; as  you  may 
see  in  the  growl  and  half-bite  with  which  a 
bitch  will  check  a too-exigeant  puppy.  But 
if  you  would  carry  out  with  success  a rational 
and  civilized  system,  you  must  be  prepared 
for  considerable  mental  exertion — for  some 
study,  some  ingenuity,  some  patience,  some 
self-control.  You  will  have  habitually  to 
trace  the  consequences  of  conduct— to  consid- 
er what  are  the  results  which  in  adult  life 
follow  certain  kind  of  acts ; and  then  you  will 
have  to  devise  methods  by  which  parallel 
results  shall  be  entailed  on  the  parallel  acts 
of  your  children.  You  will  daily  be  called 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 


205 


upon  to  analyze  the  motives  of  juvenile  con- 
duct : you  must  distinguish  between  acts  that 
are  really  good  and  those  which,  though  ex- 
ternally simulating  them,  proceed  from  infe- 
rior impulses:  while  you  must  be  ever  on 
your  guard  against  the  cruel  mistake  not  un- 
frequently  made,  of  translating  neutral  acts 
into  transgressions,  or  ascribing  worse  feel- 
ings than  were  entertained.  You  must  more 
or  less  modify  your  method  to  suit  the  dispo- 
sition of  each  child ; and  must  be  prepared  to 
make  further  modifications  as  each  child’s 
disposition  enters  on  a new  phase.  Your 
faith  will  often  be  taxed  to  maintain  the  re- 
quisite perseverance  in  a course  which  seems 
to  produce  little  or  no  effect.  Especially  if 
you  are  dealing  with  children  who  have  been 
wrongly  treated,  you  must  be  prepared  for  a 
lengthened  trial  of  patience  before  succeeding 
with  better  methods ; seeing  that  that  which 
is  not  easy  even  where  a right  state  of  feeling 
has  been  established  from  the  beginning,  be- 
comes doubly  difficult  when  a wrong  state  of 
feeling  has  to  be  set  right.  Not  only  will  you 
have  constantly  to  analyze  the  motives  of 
your  children,  but  you  will  have  to  analyze 
your  own  motives — to  discriminate  between 
those  internal  suggestions  springing  from  a 
true  paternal  solicitude,  and  those  which 
spring  from  your  own  selfishness,  from 
your  love  of  ease,  from  your  lust  of 
dominion.  And  then,  more  trying  still, 
you  will  have  not  only  to  detect,  but  to  curb 
these  baser  impulses.  In  brief,  you  will  have 


206 


EDUCATION . 


to  carry  on  your  higher  education  at  the 
same  time  that  you  are  educating  your  chil- 
dren. Intellectually  you  must  cultivate  to 
good  purpose  that  most  complex  of  subjects — 
human  nature  and  its  laws,  as  exhibited  in  your 
children,  in  yourself,  and  in  the  world.  Mor- 
ally, you  must  keep  in  constant  exercise  your 
higher  feelings,  and  restrain  your  lower.  It 
is  a truth  yet  remaining  to  be  recognized,  that 
the  last  stage  in  the  mental  development  of 
each  man  and  woman  is  to  he  reached  only 
through  the  proper  discharge  of  the  parental 
duties.  And  when  this  truth  is  recognized,  it 
will  be  seen  how  admirable  is  the  ordination 
in  virtue  of  which  human  beings  are  led  by 
their  strongest  affections  to  subject  them- 
selves to  a discipline  which  they  would  else 
elude. 

While  some  will  probably  regard  this  con- 
ception of  education  as  it  should  be,  with 
doubt  and  discouragement,  others  will,  we 
think,  perceive  in  the  exalted  ideal  which  it 
involves,  evidence  of  its  truth.  That  it  can- 
not be  realized  by  the  impulsive,  the  un- 
sympathetic, and  the  short-sighted,  but  de- 
mands the  higher  attributes  of  human  nature, 
they  will  see  to  be  evidence  of  its  fitness  for 
the  more  advanced  states  of  humanity. 
Though  it  calls  for  much  labor  and  self-sacri- 
fice, they  will  see  that  it  promises  an  abund- 
ant return  of  happiness,  immediate  and  re- 
mote. They  will  see  that  while  in  its  injurious 
effects  on  both  parent  and  child  a bad  system 
is  twice  cursed,  a good  system  is  twice  blessed 


MORAL  EDUCATION . 


207 


— it  blesses  him  that  trains  and  him  that’s 
trained. 

It  will  be  seen  that  we  have  said  nothing 
in  this  Chapter  about  the  transcendental  dis- 
tinction between  right  and  wrong,  of  which 
wise  men  know  so  little,  and  children  noth- 
ing. All  thinkers  are  agreed  that  we  may 
find  the  criterion  of  right  in  the  effect  of 
actions,  if  we  do  not  find  the  rule  there ; and 
that  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose  we  have  had 
in  view.  Nor  have  we  introduced  the  relig- 
ious element.  We  have  confined  our  inquiries 
to  a nearer,  and  a much  more  neglected  field, 
though  a very  important  one.  Our  readers 
may  supplement  our  thoughts  in  any  way 
they  please ; we  are  only  concerned  that  they 
should  be  accepted  as  far  as  they  go. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 

Equally  at  the  squire’s  table  after  the  with- 
drawal of  the  ladies,  at  the  farmers’  market- 
ordinary,  and  at  the  village  ale-house,  the 
topic  which,  after  the  political  question  of  the 
day,  excites  perhaps  the  most’general  interest, 
is  the  management  of  animals.  Riding  home 
from  hunting,  the  conversation  is  pretty  sure 
to  gravitate  towards  horse-breeding,  and  ped- 
igrees, and  comments  on  this  or  that  “good 
point ; ” while  a day  on  the  moors  is  very  un- 
likely to  pass  without  something  being  said 
on  the  treatment  of  dogs.  When  crossing  the 
fields  together  from  church,  the  tenants  of  ad- 
jacent farms  are  apt  to  pass  from  criticisms  on 
the  sermon  to  criticisms  on  the  weather,  the 
crops,  and  the  stock ; and  thence  to  slide  into 
discussions  on  the  various  kinds  of  fodder 
and  their  feeding  qualities.  Hodge  and  Giles, 
after  comparing  notes  over  their  respective 
pig-styes,  show  by  their  remarks  that  they 
have  been  more  or  less  observant  of  their  mas- 
ters’ beasts  and  sheep ; and  of  the  effects  pro- 
duced on  them  by  this  or  that  kind  of  treat- 
ment. Nor  is  it  only  among  the  rural  popu- 
lation that  the  regulations  of  the  kennel,  the 
stable,  the  cow-shed,  and  the  sheep-pen,  are 
favorite  subjects.  In  towns,  too,  the  numer- 
14 


210 


EDUCATION. 


ous  artisans  who  keep  dogs,  the  young  men 
who  are  rich  enough  to  now  and  then  indulge 
their  sporting  tendencies,  and  their  more 
staid  seniors  who  talk  over  agricultural  prog- 
ress or  read  Mr.  Mechi’s  annual  reports  and 
Mr.  Caird’s  letters  to  the  Times , form,  when 
added  together,  a large  portion  of  the  inhab- 
itants. Take  the  adult  males  throughout  the 
kingdom,  and  a great  majority  will  be  found 
to  show  some  interest  in  the  breeding,  rear- 
ing, or  training  of  animals,  of  one  kind  or 
other. 

But,  during  after-dinner  conversations,  or 
at  other  times  of  like  intercourse,  who  hears 
anything  said  about  the  rearing  of  children? 
When  the  country  gentleman  has  paid  his 
daily  visit  to  the  stable,  and  personally  in- 
spected the  condition  and  treatment  of  his 
horses ; when  he  has  glanced  at  his  minor  live 
stock,  and  given  directions  about  them ; how 
often  does  he  go  up  to  the  nursery  and  exam- 
ine into  its  dietary,  its  hours,  its  ventilation? 
On  his  library  shelves  may  be  found  White’s 
“Farriery,”  Stephen’s  “Book  of  the  Farm,” 
Nimrod  ‘ ‘ On  the  Condition  of  Hunters ; ” and 
with  the  contents  of  these  he  is  more  or  less 
familiar ; but  how  many  books  has  he  read  on 
the  management  of  infancy  and  childhood? 
The  fattening  properties  of  oil-cake,  the  rela- 
tive values  of  hay  and  chopped  straw,  the  dan- 
gers of  unlimited  clover,  are  points  on  which 
every  landlord,  farmer,  and  peasant  has  some 
knowledge ; but  what  proportion  of  them  know 
much  about  the  qualities  of  the  food  they  give 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


211 


their  children,  and  its  fitness  to  the  constitu- 
tional needs  of  growing  boys  and  girls?  Per- 
haps the  business  interests  of  these  classes 
will  be  assigned  as  accounting  for  this  anom- 
aly. The  explanation  is  inadequate,  how- 
ever ; see  that  the  same  contrast  holds  more  or 
less  among  other  classes.  Of  a score  of  towns- 
people few,  if  any,  would  prove  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  it  is  undesirable  to  work  a horse 
soon  after  it  has  eaten ; and  yet,  of  this  same 
score,  supposing  them  all  to  be  fathers,  prob- 
ably not  one  would  be  found  who  had  consid- 
ered whether  the  time  elapsing  between  his 
children’s  dinner  and  their  resumption  of  les- 
sons was  sufficient.  Indeed,  on  cross-exam- 
ination, nearly  every  man  would  disclose  the 
latent  opinion  that  the  regimen  of  the  nursery 
was  no  concern  of  his.  “ Oh,  I leave  all  those 
things  to  the  women,”  would  probably  be  the 
reply.  And  in  most  cases  the  tone  and  man- 
ner of  this  reply  would  convey  the  implica- 
tion, that  such  cares  are  not  consistent  with 
masculine  dignity. 

Consider  the  fact  from  any  but  the  conven- 
tional point  of  view,  and  it  will  seem  strange 
that  while  the  raising  of  first-rate  bullocks  is 
an  occupation  on  which  men  of  education  will- 
ingly bestow  much  time,  inquiry,  and  thought, 
the  bringing  up  of  fine  human  beings  is  an 
occupation  tacitly  voted  unworthy  of  their 
attention.  Mammas  who  have  been  taught 
little  but  languages,  music,  and  accomplish- 
ments, aided  by  nurses  full  of  antiquated  prej- 
udices, are  held  competent  regulators  of  the 


212 


EDUCATION. 


food,  clothing,  and  exercise  of  children. 
Meanwhile  the  fathers  read  books  and  period- 
icals, attend  agricultural  meetings,  try  ex- 
periments, and  engage  in  discussions,  all  with 
the  view  of  discovering  how  to  fatten  prize 
pigs ! Infinite  pains  will  be  taken  to  produce 
a racer  that  shall  win  the  Derby : none  to  pro- 
duce a modern  athlete.  Had  Gulliver  nar- 
rated of  the  Laputans  that  the  men  vied  with 
each  other  in  learning  how  best  to  rear  the 
offspring  of  other  creatures,  and  were  care- 
less of  learning  how  best  to  rear  their  own 
offspring,  he  would  have  paralleled  any  of 
the  other  absurdities  he  ascribes  to  them. 

The  matter  is  a serious  one,  however.  Lu- 
dicrous as  is  the  antithesis,  the  fact  it  ex- 
presses is  not  less  disastrous.  As  remarks  a 
suggestive  writer,  the  first  requisite  to  suc- 
cess in  life  is  “to  be  a good  animal;  ” and  to 
be  a nation  of  good  animals  is  the  first  condi- 
tion to  national  prosperity.  Not  only  is  it 
that  the  event  of  a war  often  turns  on  the 
strength  and  hardiness  of  soldiers ; but  it  is 
that  the  contests  of  commerce  are  in  part 
determined  by  the  bodily  endurance  of  pro- 
ducers. Thus  far  we  have  found  no  reason 
to  fear  trials  of  strength  with  other  races  in 
either  of  these  fields.  But  there  are  not  want- 
ing signs  that  our  powers  will  presently  be 
taxed  to  the  uttermost.  Already  under  the 
keen  competition  of  modern  life,  the  applica- 
tion required  of  almost  every  one  is  such  as 
few  can  bear  without  more  or  less  injury. 
Already  thousands  break  down  under  the 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


213 


high  pressure  they  are  subject  to.  If  this 
pressure  continues  to  increase,  as  it  seems 
likely  to  do,  it  will  try  severely  all  but  the 
soundest  constitution.  Hence  it  is  becoming 
of  especial  importance  that  the  training  of 
children  should  be  so  carried  on,  as  not  only 
to  fit  them  mentally  for  the  struggle  before 
them,  but  also  to  make  them  physically  fit  to 
bear  its  excessive  wear  and  tear. 

Happily  the  matter  is  beginning  to  attract 
attention.  The  writings  of  Mr.  Kingsley  in- 
dicate a reaction  against  over-culture;  car- 
ried, as  reactions  usually  are,  someAvhat  too 
far.  Occasional  letters  and  leaders  in  the 
newspapers  have  shown  an  awakening  inter- 
est in  physical  training.  And  the  formation 
of  a school,  significantly  nicknamed  that  of 
“muscular  Christianity,”  implies  a growing 
opinion  that  our  present  methods  of  bringing 
up  children  do  not  sufficiently  regard  the  wel- 
fare of  the  body.  The  topic  is  evidently  ripe 
for  discussion. 

To  conform  the  regimen  of  the  nursery  and 
the  school  to  the  established  truths  of  modern 
science — this  is  the  desideratum.  It  is  time 
that  the  benefits  which  our  sheep  and  oxen 
have  for  years  past  derived  from  the  investi- 
gations of  the  laboratory,  should  be  partici- 
pated in  by  our  children.  Without  calling  in 
question  the  great  importance  of  horse-train- 
ing and  pig-feeding,  we  would  suggest  that, 
as  the  rearing  of  well-grown  men  and  women 
is  also  of  some  moment,  the  conclusions  indi 
cated  by  theory,  and  endorsed  by  practice, 


214 


EDUCATION. 


ought  to  be  acted  on  in  the  last  case  as  in  the 
first.  Probably  not  a few  will  be  startled — 
perhaps  offended — by  this  collocation  of 
ideas.  But  it  is  a fact  not  to  be  disputed, 
and  to  which  we  had  best  reconcile  our- 
selves, that  man  is  subject  to  the  same 
organic  laws  as  inferior  creatures.  No  anat- 
omist, no  physiologist,  no  chemist,  will  for  a 
moment  hesitate  to  assert,  that  the  general 
principles  which  rule  over  the  vital  processes 
in  animals  equally  rule  over  the  vital  proc- 
esses in  man.  And  a candid  admission  of 
this  fact  is  not  without  its  reward : namely, 
that  the  truths  established  by  observation  and 
experiment  on  brutes,  become  more  or  less 
available  for  human  guidance.  Rudimentary 
as  is  the  Science  of  Life,  it  has  already  at- 
tained to  certain  fundamental  principles  un- 
derlying the  development  of  all  organisms, 
the  human  included.  That  which  has  now  to 
be  done,  and  that  which  we  shall  endeavor  in 
some  measure  to  do,  is  to  show  the  bearing 
of  these  fundamental  principles  upon  the 
physical  training  of  childhood  and  youth. 

The  rhythmical  tendency  which  is  tracea- 
ble in  all  departments  of  social  life — which  is 
illustrated  in  the  access  of  despotism  after 
revolution,  or,  among  ourselves,  in  the  alter- 
nation of  reforming  epochs  and  conservative 
epochs — which,  after  a dissolute  age,  brings 
an  age  of  asceticism,  and  conversely — which, 
in  commerce,  produces  the  regularly  recur- 
ring inflations  and  panics — which  carries  the 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


215 


devotees  of  fashion  from  one  absurd  extreme 
to  the  opposite  one; — this  rhythmical  ten- 
dency affects  also  our  table-habits,  and  by  im- 
plication, the  dietary  of  the  young.  After  a 
period  distinguished  by  hard  drinking  and 
hard  eating,  has  come  a period  of  compara- 
tive sobriety,  which,  in  teetotalism  and  vege- 
tarianism, exhibits  extreme  forms  of  its  pro- 
test against  the  riotous  living  of  the  past. 
And  along  with  this  change  in  the  regimen 
of  adults,  has  come  a parallel  change  in  the 
regimen  for  boys  and  girls.  In  past  genera- 
tions, the  belief  was,  that  the  more  a child 
could  be  induced  to  eat,  the  better;  and  even 
noTfc,  among  farmers  and  in  remote  districts, 
where  traditional  ideas  most  linger,  parents 
may  be  found  who  tempt  their  children  to 
gorge  themselves.  But  among  the  educated 
classes,  who  chiefly  display  this  reaction  tow- 
ards abstemiousness,  there  may  be  seen  a 
decided  leaning  to  the  under-feeding,  rather 
than  the  over-feeding,  of  children.  Indeed 
their  disgust  for  bygone  animalism  is  more 
clearly  shown  in  the  treatment  of  their  off- 
spring than  in  the  treatment  of  themselves ; 
seeing  that  while  their  disguised  asceticism 
is,  in  so  far  as  their  personal  conduct  is  con- 
cerned, kept  in  check  by  their  appetites,  it 
has  full  play  in  legislating  for  juveniles. 

That  over-feeding  and  under-feeding  are 
both  bad,  is  a truism.  Of  the  two,  however, 
the  last  is  the  worst.  As  writes  a high  au- 
thority, “the  effects  of  casual  repletion  are 
less  prejudicial,  and  more  easily  corrected, 


216 


EDUCATION . 


than  those  of  inanition.  ” * Add  to  which,  that 
where  there  has  been  no  injudicious  interfer- 
ence, repletion  will  seldom  occur.  4 4 Excess 
is  the  vice  rather  of  adults  than  of  the  young, 
who  are  rarely  either  gourmands  or  epicures, 
unless  through  the  fault  of  those  who  rear 
them.”t  This  system  of  restriction  which 
many  parents  think  so  necessary,  is  based 
upon  very  inadequate  observation,  and  very 
erroneous  reasoning.  There  is  an  over-legis- 
lation in  the  nursery,  as  well  as  an  over-legis- 
lation in  the  State;  and  one  of  the  most  inju- 
rious forms  of  it  is  this  limitation  in  the  quan- 
tity of  food. 

44  But  are  children  to  be  allowed  to  surfeit 
themselves?  Shall  they  be  suffered  to  take 
their  fill  of  dainties  and  make  themselves  ill, 
as  they  certainly  will  do?  ” As  thus  put,  the 
question  admits  of  but  one  reply.  But  as  thus 
put,  it  assumes  the  point  at  issue.  We  con- 
tend that,  as  appetite  is  a good  guide  to  all 
the  lower  creation — as  it  is  a good  guide  to  the 
infant — as  it  is  a good  guide  to  the  invalid — as 
it  is  a good  guide  to  the  differently-placed 
races  of  men,  and  as  it  is  a good  guide  for 
every  adult  who  leads  a healthful  life ; it  may 
safely  be  inferred  that  it  is  a good  guide  for 
childhood.  It  would  be  strange  indeed  were 
it  here  alone  untrustworthy. 

Probably  not  a few  will  read  this  reply  with 
some  impatience ; being  able,  as  they  think, 
to  cite  facts  totally  at  variance  with  it.  It 

* “ Cyclopaedia  of  Practical  Medicine.” 
tlbid. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


217 


will  appear  absurd  if  we  deny  the  relevancy 
of  these  facts;  and  yet  the  paradox  is  quite 
defensible.  The  truth  is,  that  the  instances 
of  excess  which  such  persons  have  in  mind, 
are  usually  the  consequences  of  the  restrictive 
system  they  seem  to  justify.  They  are  the 
sensual  reactions  caused  by  a more  or  less  as- 
cetic regimen.  They  illustrate  on  a small 
scale  that  commonly  remarked  fact,  that  those 
who  during  youth  have  been  subject  to  the 
most  rigorous  discipline,  are  apt  afterwards 
to  rush  into  the  wildest  extravagances.  They 
are  analogous  to  those  frightful  phenomena, 
once  not  uncommon  in  convents,  where  nuns 
suddenly  lapsed  from  the  extremest  austeri- 
ties into  an  almost  demoniac  wickedness. 
They  simply  exhibit  the  uncontrollable  vehe- 
mence of  a long-denied  desire.  Consider  the 
ordinary  tastes  and  the  ordinary  treatment 
of  children.  The  love  of  sweets  is  conspicu- 
ous and  almost  universal  among  them.  Prob- 
ably ninety-nine  people  in  a hundred,  pre- 
sume that  there  is  nothing  more  in  this  than 
gratification  of  the  palate ; and  that,  in  com- 
mon with  other  sensual  desires,  it  should 
be  discouraged.  The  physiologist,  however, 
whose  discoveries  lead  him  to  an  ever-increas- 
ing reverence  for  the  arrangements  of  things, 
will  suspect  that  there  is  something  more  in 
this  love  of  sweets  than  the  current  hypoth- 
esis supposes;  and  a little  inquiry  confirms 
the  suspicion.  Any  work  on  organic  chem- 
istry shows  that  sugar  plays  an  important 
part  in  the  vital  processes.  Both  saccharine 


218 


EDUCATION. 


and  fatty  matters  are  eventually  oxidized  in 
the  body ; and  there  is  an  accompanying  evo- 
lution of  heat.  Sugar  is  the  form  to  which  sun- 
dry other  compounds  have  to  be  reduced  be- 
fore they  are  available  as  heat-making  food ; 
and  this  formation  of  sugar  is  carried  on  in 
the  body.  Not  only  is  starch  changed  into 
sugar  in  the  course  of  digestion,  but  it  has 
been  proved  by  M.  Claude  Bernard  that  the 
liver  is  a factory  in  which  other  constituents 
of  food  are  transformed  into  sugar.  Now, 
when  to  the  fact  that  children  have  a marked 
desire  for  this  valuable  heat-food,  we  join  the 
fact  that  they  have  usually  a marked  dislike 
to  that  food  which  gives  out  the  greatest 
amount  of  heat  during  its  oxidation  (namely, 
fat),  we  shall  see  strong  reason  for  thinking 
that  excess  of  the  one  compensates  for  defect 
of  the  other— that  the  organism  demands 
more  sugar  because  it  cannot  deal  wdth  much 
fat.  Again,  children  are  usually  very  fond  of 
vegetable  acids.  Fruits  of  all  kinds  are  their 
delight ; and,  in  the  absence  of  anything  bet- 
ter, they  will  devour  unripe  gooseberries  and 
the  sourest  of  crabs.  Now,  not  only  are  veg- 
etable acids,  in  common  with  mineral  ones, 
very  good  tonics,  and  beneficial  as  such  when 
taken  in  moderation ; but  they  have,  when  ad- 
ministered in  their  natural  forms,  other  ad- 
vantages. “Bipe  fruit,”  says  Dr.  Andrew 
Combe,  “is  more  freely  given  on  the  Conti- 
nent than  in  this  country;  and,  particularly 
when  the  bowels  act  imperfectly,  it  is  often 
very  useful.”  See,  then,  the  discord  between 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


219 


the  instinctive  wants  of  children  and  their 
habitual  treatment.  Here  are  two  dominant 
desires,  which  there  is  good  reason  to  believe 
express  certain  needs  of  the  juvenile  constitu- 
tion; and  not  only  are  they  ignored  in  the 
nursery  regimen,  but  there  is  a general  ten- 
dency to  forbid  the  gratification  of  them. 
Bread-and-milk  in  the  morning,  tea  and  bread- 
and-butter  at  night,  or  some  dietary  equally 
insipid,  is  rigidly  adhered  to ; and  any  minis- 
tration to  the  palate  is  thought  not  only  need- 
less but  wrong.  What  is  the  necessary  con- 
sequence? When,  on  fete-days  there  is  an  un- 
limited access  to  good  things — when  a gift  of 
pocket-money  brings  the  contents  of  the  con- 
fectioner's window  within  reach,  or  when  by 
some  accident  the  free  run  of  a fruit -garden  is 
obtained ; then  the  long-denied,  and  therefore 
intense,  desires  lead  to  great  excesses.  There 
is  an  impromptu  carnival,  caused  not  only  by 
the  release  from  past  restraints,  but  also  by 
the  consciousness  that  a long  Lent  will  begin 
on  the  morrow.  And  then,  when  the  evils  of 
repletion  display  themselves,  it  is  argued  that 
children  must  not  be  left  to  the  guidance  of 
their  appetites!  These  disastrous  results  of 
artificial  restrictions,  are  themselves  cited  as 
proving  the  need  for  further  restrictions! 
We  contend,  therefore,  that  the  reasoning 
commonly  used  to  justify  this  system  of  in- 
terference is  vicious.  We  contend  that,  were 
children  allowed  daily  to  partake  of  these 
more  sapid  edibles,  for  which  there  is  a phys- 
iological requirement,  they  would  rarely  ex- 


220 


EDUCATION. 


ceed,  as  they  now  mostly  do  when  they  have 
the  opportunity:  were  fruit,  as  Dr.  Combe 
recommends,  ‘ 4 to  constitute  a part  of  the  reg- 
ular food  ” (given,  as  he  advises,  not  between 
meals,  but  along  with  them),  there  would  be 
none  of  that  craving  which  prompts  the  de- 
vouring of  such  fruits  as  crabs  and  sloes. 
And  similarly  in  other  cases. 

Not  only  is  it  that  the  a priori  reasons  for 
trusting  the  appetites  of  children  are  so 
strong ; and  that  the  reasons  assigned  for  dis- 
trusting them  are  invalid;  but  it  is  that  no 
other  guidance  is  worthy  of  any  confidence. 
What  is  the  value  of  this  parental  judgment, 
set  up  as  an  alternative  regulator?  When  to 
“ Oliver  asking  for  more,”  the  mamma  or  the 
governess  replies  in  the  negative,  on  what 
data  does  she  proceed?  She  thinks  he  has 
had  enough.  But  where  are  her  grounds  for 
so  thinking?  Has  she  some  secret  under- 
standing with  the  boy’s  stomach — some  clair- 
voyant power  enabling  her  to  discern  the 
needs  of  his  body?  If  not,  how  can  she 
safely  decide?  Does  she  not  know  that  the 
demand  of  the  system  for  food  is  determined 
by  numerous  and  involved  causes — varies 
with  the  temperature,  with  the  hygrometric 
state  of  the  air,  with  the  electric  state  of  the 
air — varies  also  according  to  the  exercise 
taken,  according  to  the  kind  and  quality  of 
food  eaten  at  the  last  meal,  and  according  to 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  last  meal  was 
digested?  How  can  she  calculate  the  result  of 
such  a combination  of  causes?  As  we  heard 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


221 


said  by  the  father  of  a five-years-old  boy, 
who  stands  a head  taller  than  most  of  his  age, 
and  is  proportionately  robust,  rosy,  and  ac- 
tive:— “I  can  see  no  artificial  standard  by 
which  to  mete  out  his  food.  If  I say,  ‘this 
much  is  enough,  ’ it  is  a mere  guess ; and  the 
guess  is  as  likely  to  be  wrong  as  right.  Con- 
sequently, having  no  faith  in  guesses,  I let 
him  eat  his  fill.”  And  certainly,  any  one 
judging  of  his  policy  by  its  effects,  would  be 
constrained  to  admit  its  wisdom.  In  truth, 
this  confidence,  with  which  most  parents 
take  upon  themselves  to  legislate  for  the 
stomachs  of  their  children,  proves  their  un- 
acquaintance with  the  principles  of  physiol- 
ogy : if  they  knew  more,  they  would  be  more 
modest.  “The  pride  of  science  is  humble 
when  compared  with  the  pride  of  ignorance.” 
If  any  one  would  learn  how  little  faith  is  to 
be  placed  in  human  judgments,  and  how 
much  in  the  pre-established  arrangements  of 
things,  let  him  compare  the  rashness  of  the 
inexperienced  physician  with  the  caution  of 
the  most  advanced;  or  let  him  dip  into  Sir 
John  Forbes’  work,  “On  Nature  and  Art  in 
the  Cure  of  Disease;  ” and  he  will  then  see 
that,  in  proportion  as  men  gain  a greater 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  life,  they  come  to 
have  less  confidence  in  themselves,. and  more 
in  Nature. 

Turning  from  the  question  of  quantity  of 
food  to  that  of  quality , we  may  discern  the 
same  ascetic  tendency.  Not  simply  a more 
or  less  restricted  diet,  but  a comparatively 


222 


EDUCATION. 


low  diet,  is  thought  proper  for  children.  The 
current  opinion  is,  that  they  should  have  but 
little  animal  food.  Among  the  less  wealthy 
classes,  economy  seems  to  have  dictated  this 
opinion — the  wish  has  been  father  to  the 
thought.  Parents  not  alfording  to  buy  much 
meat,  and  liking  meat  themselves,  answer 
the  petitions  of  juveniles  with — “ Meat  is  not 
good  for  little  boys  and  girls ; ” and  this,  at 
first,  probably  nothing  but  a convenient  ex- 
cuse, has  by  repetition  grown  into  an  article 
of  faith.  While  the  classes  with  whom  cost 
is  not  a consideration,  have  been  swayed 
partly  by  the  example  of  the  majority,  partly 
by  the  influence  of  nurses  drawn  from  the 
lower  classes,  and  in  some  measure  by  the  re- 
action against  past  animalism. 

If,  however,  we  inquire  for  the  basis  of  this 
opinion,  we  find  little  or  none.  It  is  a dogma 
repeated  and  received  without  proof,  like  that 
which,  for  thousands  of  years,  insisted  on 
the  necessity  of  swaddling-clothes.  It  may 
indeed  be  true  that,  to  the  young  child’s 
stomach,  not  yet  endowed  with  much  muscu- 
lar power,  meat,  which  requires  considerable 
trituration  before  it  can  be  made  into  chyme, 
is  an  unfit  aliment.  But  this  objection  does 
not  tell  against  animal  food  from  which  the 
fibrous  part  has  been  extracted;  nor  does  it 
apply  when,  after  the  lapse  of  two  or  three 
years,  considerable  muscular  vigor  has  been 
acquired.  And  while  the  evidence  in  sup- 
port of  this  dogma,  partially  valid  in  the 
case  of  very  young  children,  is  not  valid  in 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION . 


223 


the  case  of  older  children,  who  are,  neverthe- 
less, ordinarily  treated  in  conformity  with 
the  dogma,  the  adverse  evidence  is  abundant 
and  conclusive.  The  verdict  of  science  is  ex- 
actly opposite  to  the  popular  opinion.  We 
have  put  the  question  to  two  of  our  leading 
physicians,  and  to  several  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished physiologists,  and  they  uniformly 
agree  in  the  conclusion,  that  children  should 
have  a diet  not  less  nutritive,  but,  if  anything, 
more  nutritive  than  that  of  adults. 

The  grounds  for  this  conclusion  are  obvious, 
and  the  reasoning  simple.  It  needs  but  to 
compare  the  vital  processes  of  a man  with 
those  of  a boy,  to  see  at  once  that  the  demand 
for  sustenance  is  relatively  greater  in  the  boy 
than  in  the  man.  What  are  the  ends  for 
which  a man  requires  food?  Each  day  his 
body  undergoes  more  or  less  wear — wear 
through  muscular  exertion,  wear  of  the  ner- 
vous system  through  mental  actions,  wear  of 
the  viscera  in  carrying  on  the  functions  of  life ; 
and  the  tissue  thus  wasted  has  to  be  renewed. 
Each  day,  too,  by  perpetual  radiation,  his 
body  loses  a large  amount  of  heat ; and  as, 
for  the  continuance  of  the  vital  actions,  the 
temperature  of  the  body  must  be  maintained, 
this  loss  has  to  be  compensated  by  a constant 
production  of  heat : to  which  end  certain  con- 
stituents of  the  food  are  unceasingly  under- 
going oxidation.  To  make  up  for  the  day’s 
waste,  and  to  supply  fuel  for  the  day’s 
expenditure  of  heat,  are,  then,  the  sole  pur- 
poses for  which  the  adult  requires  food. 


224 


EDUCATION . 


Consider,  now,  the  case  of  the  boy.  He,  too, 
wastes  the  substance  of  his  body  by  action ; 
and  it  needs  but  to  note  his  restless  activity 
to  see  that,  in  proportion  to  his  bulk,  he 
probably  wastes  as  much  as  a man.  He,  too, 
loses  heat  by  radiation ; and,  as  his  body  ex- 
poses a greater  surface  in  proportion  to  its 
mass  than  does  that  of  a man,  and  therefore 
loses  heat  more  rapidly,  the  quantity  of  heat- 
food  he  requires  is,  bulk  for  bulk,  greater 
than  that  required  by  a man.  So  that  even 
had  the  boy  no  other  vital  processes  to  carry 
on  than  the  man  has,  he  would  need,  rela- 
tively to  his  size,  a somewhat  larger  supply 
of  nutriment.  But,  besides  repairing  his 
body  and  maintaining  its  heat,  the  boy  has  to 
make  new  tissue — to  grow.  After  waste  and 
thermal  loss  have  been  provided  for,  such 
surplus  of  nutriment  as  remains,  goes  to  the 
further  building  up  of  the  frame;  and  only 
in  virtue  of  this  surplus  is  normal  growth 
possible — the  growth  that  sometimes  takes 
place  in  the  absence  of  such  surplus,  causing 
a manifest  prostration  consequent  upon  de- 
fective repair.  How  peremptory  is  the  de- 
mand of  the  unfolding  organism  for  materials, 
is  seen  alike  in  that  “ school-boy  hunger,” 
which  after-life  rarely  parallels  in  intensity, 
and  in  the  comparatively  quick  return  of  ap- 
petite. And  if  there  needs  further  evidence 
of  this  extra  necessity  for  nutriment,  we 
have  it  in  the  fact  that,  during  the  famines 
following  shipwrecks  and  other  disasters,  the 
children  are  the  first  to  die. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


225 


This  relatively  greater  need  for  nutriment 
being  admitted,  as  it  must  perforce  be,  the 
question  that  remains  is — shall  we  meet  it  by 
giving  an  excessive  quantity  of  what  may  be 
called  dilute  food,  or  a more  moderate  quantity 
of  concentrated  food?  The  nutriment  obtain- 
able from  a given  weight  of  meat  is  obtainable 
only  from  a larger  weight  of  bread,  or  from  a 
still  larger  weight  of  potatoes,  and  so  on.  ’ To 
fulfil  the  requirement,  the  quantity  must  be 
increased  as  the  nutritiveness  is  diminished. 
Shall  we,  then,  respond  to  the  extra  wants  of 
the  growing  child  by  giving  an  adequate 
quantity  of  food  as  good  as  that  of  adults? 
Or,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  its  stomach 
has  to  dispose  of  a relatively  larger  quantity 
even  of  this  good  food,  shall  we  further  tax  it 
by  giving  an  inferior  food  in  still  greater 
quantity  ? 

The  answer  is  tolerably  obvious.  The  more 
the  labor  of  digestion  can  be  economized,  the 
more  energy  is  left  for  the  purposes  of  growth 
and  action.  The  functions  of  the  stomach 
and  intestines  cannot  be  performed  without  a 
large  supply  of  blood  and  nervous  power; 
and  in  the  comparative  lassitude  that  follows 
a hearty  meal,  every  adult  has  proof  that  this 
supply  of  blood  and  nervous  power  is  at  the 
expense  of  the  system  at  large.  If  the  re- 
quisite nutriment  is  furnished  by  a great 
quantity  of  innutritions  food,  more  work  is 
entailed  on  the  viscera  than  when  it  is  fur- 
nished by  a moderate  quantity  of  nutritious 
food.  This  extra  work  is  so  much  sheer  loss 
15 


226 


EDUCATION. 


— a loss  which  in  children  shows  itself  either 
in  diminished  energy,  or  in  smaller  growth, 
or  in  both.  The  inference  is,  then,  that  they 
should  have  a diet  which  combines,  as  much 
as  possible,  nutritiveness  and  digestibility. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  boys  and  girls  may 
be  brought  up  upon  an  exclusively,  or  almost 
exclusively,  vegetable  diet.  Among  the  upper 
classes  are  to  be  found  children  to  whom 
comparatively  little  meat  is  given ; and  who, 
nevertheless,  grow  and  appear  in  good  health. 
Animal  food  is  scarcely  tasted  by  the  off- 
spring of  laboring  people ; and  yet  they  reach 
a healthy  maturity.  But  these  seemingly 
adverse  facts  have  by  no  means  the  weight 
commonly  supposed.  In  the  first  place,  it 
does  not  follow  that  those  who  in  early  years 
flourish  on  bread  and  potatoes,  will  eventu- 
ally reach  a fine  development ; and  a compar- 
ison between  the  agricultural  laborers  and 
the  gentry,  in  England,  or  between  the  mid- 
dle and  lower  classes  in  France,  is  by  no 
means  in  favor  of  vegetable  feeders.  In  the 
second  place,  the  question  is  not  only  a ques- 
tion of  bulk , but  also  a question  of  quality . A 
soft,  flabby  flesh  makes  as  good  a show  as  a 
firm  one ; but  though  to  the  careless  eye,  a child 
of  full,  flaccid  tissue  may  appear  the  equal  of 
one  whose  fibres  are  well  toned,  a trial  of 
strength  will  prove  the  difference.  Obesity 
in  adults  is  often  a sign  of  feebleness.  Men 
lose  weight  in  training.  And  hence  the  ap- 
pearance of  these  low-fed  children  is  by  no 
means  conclusive.  In  the  third  place,  not 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


227 


only  size , but  energy  has  to  be  considered. 
Between  children  of  the  meat-eating  classes 
and  those  of  the  bread-and-potato-eating 
classes,  there  is  a marked  contrast  in  this 
respect.  Both  in  mental  and  physical  vivacity 
the  low-fed  peasant-boy  is  greatly  inferior  to 
the  better-fed  son  of  a gentleman. 

If  we  compare  different  classes  of  animals, 
or  different  races  of  men,  or  the  same  animals 
or  men  when  differently  fed,  we  find  still 
more  distinct  proof  that  the  degree  of  energy 
essentially  depends  on  the  nutritiveness  of  the 
food. 

In  a cow,  subsisting  on  so  innutritive  a 
food  as  grass,  we  see  that  the  immense 
quantity  required  to  be  eaten  necessitates  an 
enormous  digestive  system;  that  the  limbs, 
small  in  comparison  with  the  body,  are  bur- 
dened by  its  weight ; that  in  carrying  about 
this  heavy  body  and  digesting  this  excessive 
quantity  of  food,  a great  amount  of  force  is 
expended ; and  that,  having  but  little  energy 
remaining,  the  creature  is  sluggish.  Compare 
with  the  cow  a horse — an  animal  of  nearly 
allied  structure,  but  adapted  to  a more  con- 
centrated food.  Here  we  see  that  the  body, 
and  more  especially  its  abdominal  region, 
bears  a much  smaller  ratio  to  the  limbs ; that 
the  powers  are  not  taxed  by  the  support  of 
such  massive  viscera,  nor  the  digestion  of  so 
bulky  a food;  and  that,  as  a consequence, 
there  is  great  locomotive  energy  and  consider- 
able vivacity.  If,  again,  we  contrast  the 
stolid  inactivity  of  the  graminivorous  sheep 


228 


EDUCATION i. 


with  the  liveliness  of  the  dog,  subsisting  upon 
flesh  or  farinaceous  food,  or  a mixture  of  the 
two,  we  see  a difference  similar  in  kind,  but 
still  greater  in  degree.  And  after  walking 
through  the  Zoological  Gardens,  and  noting 
the  restlessness  with  which  the  carnivorous 
animals  pace  up  and  down  their  cages,  it 
needs  but  to  remember  that  none  of  the  her- 
bivorous animals  habitually  display  this 
superfluous  energy,  to  see  how  clear  is  the 
relation  between  concentration  of  food  and 
degree  of  activity. 

That  these  differences  are  not  directly  con- 
sequent upon  differences  of  constitution,  as 
some  may  argue ; but  are  directly  consequent 
upon  differences  in  the  food  which  the  creat- 
ures are  constituted  to  subsist  on ; is  proved 
by  the  fact,  that  they  are  observable  between 
different  divisions  of  the  same  species.  Take 
the  case  of  mankind.  The  Australians,  Bush- 
men, and  others  of  the  lowest  savages  who 
live  on  roots  and  berries,  varied  by  larvae  of 
insects  and  the  like  meagre  fare,  are  compar- 
atively puny  in  stature,  have  large  abdo- 
mens, soft  and  undeveloped  muscles,  and  are 
quite  unable  to  cope  with  Europeans,  either 
in  a struggle  or  in  prolonged  exertion. 
Count  up  the  wild  races  who  are  well  grown, 
strong  and  active,  as  the  Kaffirs,  Nortli- 
American  Indians,  and  Patagonians,  and 
you  find  them  large  consumers  of  flesh.  The 
ill-fed  Hindoo  goes  down  before  the  English- 
man fed  on  more  nutritive  food ; to  whom  he 
is  as  inferior  in  mental  as  in  physical  energy. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


229 


And  generally,  we  think,  the  history  of  the 
world  shows  that  the  well-fed  races  have 
been  the  energetic  and  dominant  races. 

Still  stronger,  however,  becomes  the  argu- 
ment, when  we  find  that  the  same  individual 
animal  becomes  capable  of  more  or  less  exer- 
tion according  as  its  food  is  more  or  less  nu- 
tritious. This  has  been  clearly  demonstrated 
in  the  case  of  the  horse.  Though  flesh  may 
be  gained  by  a grazing  horse,  strength  is  lost ; 
as  putting  him  to  hard  work  proves.  ‘ ‘ The 
consequence  of  turning  horses  out  to  grass  is 
relaxation  of  the  muscular  system.”  “ Grass 
is  a very  good  preparation  for  a bullock  for 
Smithfield  market,  but  a very  bad  one  for  a 
hunter.”  It  was  well  known  of  old  that, 
after  passing  the  summer  months  in  the 
fields,  hunters  required  some  months  of 
stable-feeding  before  becoming  able  to  follow 
the  hounds;  and  that  they  did  not  get  into 
good  condition  until  the  beginning  of  the 
next  spring.  And  the  modern  practice  is 
that  insisted  on  by  Mr.  Apperley — u Never  to 
give  a hunter  what  is  called  ‘ a summer’s  run 
at  grass,’  and,  except  under  particular  and 
very  favorable  circumstances,  never  to  turn 
him  out  at  all.  ” That  is  to  say,  never  give  him 
poor  food:  great  energy  and  endurance  are 
to  be  obtained  only  by  the  continuous  use  of 
very  nutritive  food.  So  true  is  this  that,  as 
proved  by  Mr.  Apperley,  prolonged  high-feed- 
ing will  enable  a middling  horse  to  equal,  in 
his  performances,  a first-rate  horse  fed  in  the 
ordinary  way.  To  which  various  evidences 


230 


EDUCATION. 


add  the  familiar  fact  that,  when  a horse  is  re- 
quired to  do  double  duty,  it  is  the  practice  to 
give  him  beans — a food  containing  a larger 
proportion  of  nitrogenous,  or  flesh-making 
material,  than  his  habitual  oats. 

Once  more,  in  the  case  of  individual  men 
the  truth  has  been  illustrated  with  equal,  or 
still  greater,  clearness.  We  do  not  refer  to 
men  in  training  for  feats  of  strength,  whose 
regimen,  however,  thoroughly  conforms  to 
the  doctrine.  We  refer  to  the  experience  of 
railway  contractors  and  their  laborers.  It 
has  been  for  years  past  a well-established  fact 
that  the  English  navvy,  eating  largely  of  flesh, 
is  far  more  efficient  than  a Continental  navvy 
living  on  a less  nutritive  food : so  much  more 
efficient,  that  English  contractors  for  Conti- 
nental railways  have  habitually  taken  their 
laborers  with  them.  That  difference  of  diet 
and  not  difference  of  race  caused  this  superi- 
ority, has  been  of  late  distinctly  shown.  For 
it  has  turned  out,  that  when  the  Continental 
navvies  live  in  the  same  style  as  their  English 
competitors,  they  presently  rise,  more  or 
less  nearly,  to  a par  with  them  in  efficiency. 
To  which  fact  let  us  here  add  the  converse 
one,  to  which  we  can  give  personal  testi- 
mony based  upon  six  months’  experience  of 
vegetarianism,  that  abstinence  from  meat 
entails  diminished  energy  of  both  body  and 
mind. 

Do  not  these  various  evidences  distinctly 
endorse  our  argument  respecting  the  feeding 
of  children?  Do  they  not  imply  that,  even 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION . 


231 


supposing  the  same  stature  and  bulk  to  be  at- 
tained on  an  innutritive  as  on  a nutritive  diet, 
the  quality  of  tissue  is  greatly  inferior?  Do 
they  not  establish  the  position  that,  where 
energy  as  well  as  growth  has  to  be  main- 
tained, it  can  only  be  done  by  high  feeding? 
Do  they  not  confirm  the  a priori  conclusion 
that,  though  a child  of  whom  little  is  ex- 
pected in  the  way  of  bodily  or  mental  activi- 
ty, may  thrive  tolerably  well  on  farinaceous 
substances,  a child  who  is  daily  required,  not 
only  to  form  the  due  amount  of  new  tissue, 
but  to  supply  the  waste  consequent  on  great 
muscular  action,  and  the  further  waste  conse- 
quent on  hard  exercise  of  brain,  must  live  on 
substances  containing  a larger  ratio  of  nutri- 
tive matter?  And  is  it  not  an  obvious  corol- 
lary, that  denial  of  this  better  food  will  be  at 
the  expense  either  of  growth,  or  of  bodily  ac- 
tivity, or  of  mental  activity ; as  constitution 
and  circumstances  may  determine?  We  be- 
lieve no  logical  intellect  will  question  it.  To 
think  otherwise  is  to  entertain  in  a disguised 
form  the  old  fallacy  of  the  perpetual-motion 
schemers — that  it  is  possible  to  get  power  out 
of  nothing. 

Before  leaving  the  question  of  food,  a few 
words  must  be  said  on  another  requisite — va- 
riety. In  this  respect  the  dietary  of  the 
young  is  very  faulty.  If  not,  like  our  sol- 
diers, condemned  to  “twenty  years  of  boiled 
beef,”  our  children  have  mostly  to  bear  a mo- 
notony which,  though  less  extreme  and  less 
lasting,  is  quite  as  clearly  at  variance  with 


232 


EDUCATION. 


the  laws  of  health.  At  dinner,  it  is  true,  they 
usually  have  food  that  is  more  or  less  mixed, 
and  that  is  changed  day  by  day.  But  week 
after  week,  month  after  month,  year  after 
year,  comes  the  same  breakfast  of  bread-and- 
milk,  or,  it  may  be,  oatmeal  porridge.  And 
with  like  persistence  the  day  is  closed,  per- 
haps with  a second  edition  of  the  bread-and 
milk,  perhaps  with  tea  and  bread-and-butter. 

This  practice  is  opposed  to  the  dictates  of 
physiology.  The  satiety  produced  by  an 
often-repeated  dish,  and  the  gratification 
caused  by  one  long  a stranger  to  the  palate, 
are  not  meaningless,  as  many  carelessly  as- 
sume; but  they  are  the  incentives  to  a 
wholesome  diversity  of  diet.  It  is  a fact, 
established  by  numerous  experiments,  that 
there  is  scarcely  any  one  food,  however  good, 
which  supplies  in  due  proportions  or  right 
forms  all  the  elements  required  for  carrying 
on  the  vital  processes  in  a normal  manner : 
from  whence  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  frequent 
change  of  food  is  desirable  to  balance  the  sup- 
ply of  all  the  elements.  It  is  a further  fact, 
well  known  to  physiologists,  that  the  enjoy- 
ment given  by  a much-liked  food  is  a nervous 
stimulus,  which,  by  increasing  the  action  of 
the  heart  and  so  propelling  the  blood  with  in- 
creased vigor,  aids  in  the  subsequent  diges- 
tion. And  these  truths  are  in  harmony  with 
the  maxims  of  modern  cattle-feeding,  which 
dictate  a rotation  of  diet. 

Not  only,  however,  is  periodic  change  of 
food  very  desirable;  but,  for  the  same  rea- 


PHYSICAL  El)  UCA TION.  233 

sons,  it  is  very  desirable  that  a mixture  of 
food  should  be  taken  at  each  meal.  The  bet- 
ter balance  of  ingredients,  and  the  greater 
nervous  stimulation,  are  advantages  which 
hold  here  as  before.  If  facts  are  asked  for, 
we  may  name  as  one,  the  comparative  ease 
with  which  the  stomach  disposes  of  a French 
dinner,  enormous  in  quantity  but  extremely 
varied  in  material.  Few  will  contend  that  an 
equal  weight  of  one  kind  of  food,  however 
well  cooked,  could  be  digested  with  as  much 
facility.  If  any  desire  further  facts,  they 
may  find  them  in  every  modern  book  on 
the  management  of  animals.  Animals  thrive 
best  when  each  meal  is  made  up  of  several 
things.  And  indeed,  among  men  of  science 
the  truth  has  been  long  ago  established.  The 
experiments  of  Goss  and  Stark  4 4 afford  the 
most  decisive  proof  of  the  advantage,  or 
rather  the  necessity,  of  a mixture  of  sub- 
stances, in  order  to  produce  the  compound 
which  is  the  best  adapted  for  the  action  of  the 
stomach.”  * 

Should  any  object,  as  probably  many  will, 
that  a rotating  dietary  for  children,  and  one 
which  also  requires  a mixture  of  food  at  each 
meal,  would  entail  too  much  trouble ; we  re- 
ply, that  no  trouble  is  thought  too  great 
w~hich  conduces  to  the  mental  development  of 
children,  and  that  for  their  future  welfare, 
good  bodily  development  is  equally  important. 
Moreover,  it  seems  alike  sad  and  strange  that 


* “ Cyclopaedia  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology.’' 


234 


EDUCATION. 


a trouble  which  is  cheerfully  taken  in  the  fat- 
tening  of  pigs,  should  be  thought  too  great  in 
the  rearing  of  children. 

One  more  paragraph,  with  the  view  of 
warning  those  who  may  propose  to  adopt  the 
regimen  indicated.  The  change  must  not  be 
made  suddenly ; for  continued  low-feeding  so 
enfeebles  the  system,  as  to  disable  it  from  at 
once  dealing  with  a high  diet.  Deficient  nu- 
trition is  itself  a cause  of  dyspepsia.  This  is 
true  even  of  animals.  4 4 When  calves  are  fed 
with  skimmed  milk,  or  whey,  or  other  poor 
food,  they  are  liable  to  indigestion.  ” * Hence, 
therefore,  where  the  energies  are  low,  the 
transition  to  a generous  diet  must  be  gradual  : 
each  increment  of  strength  gained,  justifying 
a further  increase  of  nutriment.  Further,  it 
should  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  con- 
centration of  nutriment  may  be  carried  too 
far.  A bulk  sufficient  to  fill  the  stomach  is 
one  requisite  of  a proper  meal ; and  this  req- 
uisite negatives  a diet  deficient  in  those  waste 
matters  which  give  adequate  mass.  Though 
the  size  of  the  digestive  organs  is  less  in  the 
well-fed  civilized  races  than  in  the  ill-fed  sav- 
age ones ; and,  though  their  size  may  eventu- 
ally diminish  still  further ; yet,  for  the  time 
being,  the  bulk  of  the  ingesta  must  be  deter- 
mined by  the  existing  capacity.  But,  pay- 
ing due  regard  to  these  two  qualifications  our 
conclusions  are — that  the  food  of  children 
should  be  highly  nutritive ; that  it  should  be 


* Morton’s  “ Cyclopaedia  of  Agriculture 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION . 


235 


varied  at  each  meal  and  at  successive  meals ; 
and  that  it  should  be  abundant. 

With  clothing  as  with  food,  the  estab- 
lished tendency  is  towards  an  improper 
scantiness.  Here,  too,  asceticism  peeps  out. 
There  is  a current  theory,  vaguely  enter- 
tained, if  not  put  into  a definite  formula,  that 
the  sensations  are  to  be  disregarded.  They 
do  not  exist  for  our  guidance,  but  to  mislead 
us,  seems  to  be  the  prevalent  belief  reduced 
to  its  naked  form.  It  is  a grave  error : we 
are  much  more  beneficently  constituted.  It 
is  not  obedience  to  the  sensations,  but  disobe- 
dience to  them,  which  is  the  habitual  cause 
of  bodily  evils.  It  is  not  the  eating  when 
hungry,  but  the  eating  in  the  absence  of  appe- 
tite, which  is  bad.  It  is  not  the  drinking 
when  thirsty,  but  the  continuing  to  drink  when 
thirst  has  ceased,  that  is  the  vice.  Harm  re- 
sults not  from  breathing  that  fresh  air  which 
every  healthy  person  enjoys;  but  from  con- 
tinuing to  breathe  foul  air,  spite  of  the  pro- 
test of  the  lungs.  Harm  results  not  from  tak- 
ing that  active  exercise  which,  as  every  child 
shows  us,  nature  strongly  prompts ; but  from 
a persistent  disregard  of  nature’s  promptings. 
Not  that  mental  activity  which  is  spontaneous 
and  enjoyable  does  the  mischief;  but  that 
which  is  persevered  in  after  a hot  or  aching 
head  commands  desistance.  Not  that  bodily 
exertion  which  is  pleasant  or  indifferent,  does 
injury ; but  that  which  is  continued  when  ex- 
haustion forbids.  It  is  true  that,  in  those 


236 


EDUCATION . 


who  have  long  led  unhealthy  lives,  the  sensa- 
tions are  not  trustworthy  guides.  People 
who  have  for  years  been  almost  constantly  in- 
doors, who  have  exercised  their  brains  very 
much,  and  their  bodies  scarcely  at  all,  who  in 
eating  have  obeyed  their  clocks  without  con- 
sulting their  stomachs,  may  very  likely  be 
misled  by  their  vitiated  feelings.  But  their 
abnormal  state  is  itself  the  result  of  trans- 
gressing their  feelings.  Had  they  from  child- 
hood up  never  disobeyed  what  we  may  term 
the  physical  conscience,  it  would  not  have 
been  seared,  but  would  have  remained  a faith- 
ful monitor. 

Among  the  sensations  serving  for  our  guid- 
ance are  those  of  heat  and  cold ; and  a cloth- 
ing for  children  which  does  not  carefully 
consult  these  sensations  is  to  be  condemned. 
The  common  notion  about  4 4 hardening  ” is  a 
grievous  delusion.  Children  are  not  unfre- 
quently  44  hardened”  out  of  the  world;  and 
those  who  survive,  permanently  suffer  either 
in  growth  or  constitution.  4 4 Their  delicate 
appearance  furnishes  ample  indication  of  the 
mischief  thus  produced,  and  their  frequent 
attacks  of  illness  might  prove  a warning  even 
to  unreflecting  parents,”  says  Dr.  Combe. 
The  reasoning  on  which  this  hardening  theory 
rests  is  extremely  superficial.  Wealthy  par- 
ents, seeing  little  peasant  boys  and  girls 
playing  about  in  the  open  air  only  half- 
clothed,  and  joining  with  this  fact  the  general 
healthiness  of  laboring  people,  draw  the  un- 
warrantable conclusion  that  the  healthiness 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION . 


237 


is  the  result  of  the  exposure,  and  resolve  to 
keep  their  own  offspring  scantily  covered ! It 
is  forgotten  that  these  urchins  who  gambol 
upon  village-greens  are  in  many  respects  fa- 
vorably circumstanced — that  their  days  are 
spent  in  almost  perpetual  play ; that  they  are 
always  breathing  fresh  air;  and  that  their 
systems  are  not  disturbed  by  over-taxed 
brains.  For  aught  that  appears  to  the  con- 
trary, their  good  health  may  be  maintained, 
not  in  consequence  of,  but  in  spite  of,  their 
deficient  clothing.  This  alternative  conclu- 
sion we  believe  to  be  the  true  one ; and  that 
an  inevitable  detriment  results  from  the  need- 
less loss  of  animal  heat  to  which  they  are 
subject. 

For  when,  the  constitution  being  sound 
enough  to  bear  it,  exposure  does  produce 
hardness,  it  does  so  at  the  expense  of  growth. 
This  truth  is  displayed  alike  in  animals  and 
in  man.  The  Shetland  pony  bears  greater 
inclemencies  than  the  horses  of  the  south,  but 
is  dwarfed.  Highland  sheep  and  cattle,  liv- 
ing in  a colder  climate,  are  stunted  in  com- 
parison with  English  breeds.  In  both  the 
arctic  and  antarctic  regions  the  human  race 
falls  much  below  its  ordinary  height:  the 
Laplander  and  Esquimaux  are  very  short; 
and  the  Terra  del  Fuegians,  who  go  naked 
in  a cold  latitude,  are  described  by  Darwin  as 
$o  stunted  and  hideous,  that  6 ‘ one  can  hardly 
make  one’s  self  believe  they  are  fellow-creat- 
ures.” 

Science  clearly  explains  this  dwarfishness 


238 


EDUCATION. 


produced  by  great  abstraction  of  heat : show- 
ing that,  food  and  other  things  being  equal, 
it  unavoidably  results.  For,  as  before  pointed 
out,  to  make  up  for  that  cooling  by  radiation 
which  the  body  is  constantly  undergoing, 
there  must  be  a constant  oxidation  of  certain 
matters  which  form  part  of  the  food.  And  in 
proportion  as  the  thermal  loss  is  great,  must 
the  quantity  of  these  matters  required  for 
oxidation  be  great.  But  the  power  of  the  di- 
gestive organs  is  limited.  Hence  it  follows, 
that  when  they  have  to  prepare  a large  quan- 
tity of  this  material  needful  for  maintaining 
the  temperature,  they  can  prepare  but  a small 
quantity  of  the  material  which  goes  to  build 
up  the  frame.  Excessive  expenditure  for 
fuel  entails  diminished  means  for  other  pur- 
poses: wherefore  there  necessarily  results  a 
body  small  in  size,  or  inferior  in  texture,  or 
both. 

Hence  the  great  importance  of  clothing. 
As  Liebig  says: — “Our  clothing  is,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  temperature  of  the  body,  merely 
an  equivalent  for  a certain  amount  of  food.” 
By  diminishing  the  loss  of  heat,  it  diminishes 
the  amount  of  fuel  needful  for  maintaining 
the  heat ; and  when  the  stomach  has  less  to 
do  in  preparing  fuel,  it  can  do  more  in  pre- 
paring. other  materials.  This  deduction  is 
entirely  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  those 
who  manage  animals.  Cold  can  be  borne  by 
animals  only  at  an  expense  of  fat,  or  muscle, 
or  growth,  as  the  case  may  be.  “If  fatten- 
ing cattle  are  exposed  to  a low  temperature, 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


239 


either  their  progress  must  he  retarded,  or  a 
great  additional  expenditure  of  food  in- 
curred.”* Mr.  Apperley  insists  strongly 
that,  to  bring  hunters  into  good  condition,  it 
is  necessary  that  the  stable  should  be  kept 
warm.  And  among  those  who  rear  racers,  it 
is  an  established  doctrine  that  exposure  is  to 
be  avoided. 

The  scientific  truth  thus  illustrated  by  eth- 
nology, and  recognized  by  agriculturists  and 
sportsmen,  applies  with  double  force  to  chil- 
dren. In  proportion  to  their  smallness  and 
the  rapidity  of  their  growth  is  the  injury  from 
cold  great.  In  France,  new-born  infants 
often  die  in  winter  from  being  carried  to  tke 
office  of  the  maire  for  registration.  “M. 
Quetelet  has  pointed  out,  that  in  Belgium  two 
infants  die  in  January  for  one  that  dies  in 
July.”  And  in  Russia  the  infant  mortality  is 
something  enormous.  Even  when  near  ma- 
turity, the  undeveloped  frame  is  compara- 
tively unable  to  bear  exposure : as  witness  the 
quickness  with  which  young  soldiers  succumb 
in  a trying  campaign.  The  rationale  is  obvi- 
ous. We  have  already  adverted  to  the  fact 
that,  in  consequence  of  the  varying  relation 
between  surface  and  bulk,  a child  loses  a rela- 
tively larger  amount  of  heat  than  an  adult ; 
and  here  we  must  point  out  that  the  disad- 
vantage under  which  the  child  thus  labors  is 
very  great.  Lehmann  says: — “ If  the  car- 
bonic acid  excreted  by  children  or  young  ani- 


* Morton’s  “ Cyclopaedia  of  Agriculture.' 


240 


EDUCATION . 


mals  is  calculated  for  an  equal  bodily  weight, 
it  results  that  children  produce  nearly  twice 
as  much  acid  as  adults.”  Now  the  quantity 
of  carbonic  acid  given  off  varies  with  tolera- 
ble accuracy  as  the  quantity  of  heat  pro- 
duced. And  thus  we  see  that  in  children  the 
system,  even  when  not  placed  at  a disadvant- 
age, is  called  upon  to  provide  nearly  double 
the  proportion  of  material  for  generating 
heat. 

Bee,  then,  the  extreme  folly  of  clothing  the 
young  scantily.  What  father,  full-grown 
though  he  is,  losing  heat  less  rapidly  as  he 
does,  and  having  no  physiological  necessity 
but  to  supply  the  waste  of  each  day — what 
father,  we  ask,  would  think  it  salutary  to  go 
about  with  bare  legs,  bare  arms,  and  bare 
neck?  Yet  this  tax  upon  the  system,  from 
which  he  would  shrink,  he  inflicts  upon  his 
little  ones,  who  are  so  much  less  able  to  bear 
it ! or,  if  he  does  not  inflict  it,  sees  it  inflicted 
without  protest.  Let  him  remember  that 
every  ounce  of  nutriment  needlessly  expended 
for  the  maintenance  of  temperature,  is  so  much 
deducted  from  the  nutriment  going  to  build 
up  the  frame  and  maintain  the  energies ; and 
that  even  when  colds,  congestions,  or  other 
consequent  disorders  are  escaped,  diminished 
growth  or  less  perfect  structure  is  inevitable. 

4 4 The  rule  is,  therefore,  not  to  dress  in  an 
invariable  way  in  all  cases,  but  to  put  on 
clothing  in  kind  and  quantity  sufficient  in  the 
individual  case  to  protect  the  body  effectually 
from  an  abiding  sensation  of  cold , however 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


241 


slight .”  This  rule,  the  importance  of  which 
Dr.  Combe  indicates  by  the  italics,  is  one  in 
which  men  of  science  and  practitioners  agree. 
We  have  met  with  none  competent  to  form  a 
judgment  on  the  matter,  who  do  not  strongly 
condemn  the  exposure  of  children’s  limbs. 
If  there  is  one  point  above  others  in  which 
“pestilent  custom”  should  be  ignored,  it  is 
this. 

Lamentable,  indeed,  is  it  to  see  mothers 
seriously  damaging  the  constitutions  of  their 
children  out  of  compliance  with  an  irrational 
fashion.  It  is  bad  enough  that  they  should 
themselves  conform  to  every  folly  which  our 
Gallic  neighbors  please  to  initiate;  but  that 
they  should  clothe  their  children  in  any 
mountebank  dress  which  Le  petit  Courrier 
des  Dames  indicates,  regardless  of  its  insuffi- 
ciency and  unfitness,  is  monstrous.  Discom- 
fort more  or  less  great,  is  inflicted ; frequent 
disorders  are  entailed ; growth  is  checked  or 
stamina  undermined;  premature  death  not 
uncommonly  caused;  and  all  beeause  it  is 
thought  needful  to  make  frocks  of  a size  and 
material  dictated  by  French  caprice.  Not 
only  is  it  that  for  the  sake  of  conformity, 
mothers  thus  punish  and  injure  their  little 
ones  by  scantiness  of  covering ; but  it  is  that 
from  an  allied  motive  they  impose  a style  of 
dress  which  forbids  healthful  activity.  To 
please  the  eye,  colors  and  fabrics  are  chosen 
totally  unfit  to  bear  that  rough  usage  which 
unrestrained  play  involves ; and  then  to  pre- 
vent damage  the  unrestrained  play  is  inter- 
16 


242 


EDUCATION. 


dieted.  “Get  up  this  moment:  you  will  soil 
your  clean  frock,”  is  the  mandate  issued  to 
some  urchin  creeping  about  on  the  floor. 
“ Come  back:  you  will  dirty  your  stockings,” 
calls  out  the  governess  to  one  of  her  charges, 
who  has  left  the  footpath  to  scramble  up  a 
bank.  Thus  is  the  evil  doubled.  That  they 
may  come  up  to  their  mamma’s  standard  of 
prettiness,  alid  be  admired  by  her  visitors, 
children  must  have  habiliments  deficient  in 
quantity  and  unfit  in  texture ; and  that  these 
easily-damaged  habiliments  may  be  kept 
clean  and  uninjured,  the  restless  activity,  so 
natural  and  needful  for  the  young,  is  more  or 
less  restrained.  The  exercise  which  becomes 
doubly  requisite  when  the  clothing  is  insuffi- 
cient, is  cut  short,  lest  it  should  deface  the 
clothing.  Would  that  the  terrible  cruelty  of 
this  system  could  be  seen  by  those  who  main- 
tain it.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that,  through 
enfeebled  health,  defective  energies,  and  con- 
sequent non-success  in  life,  thousands  are  an- 
nually doomed  to  unhappiness  by  this  unscru- 
pulous regard  for  appearances:  even  when 
they  are  not,  by  early  death,  literally  sacri- 
ficed to  the  Moloch  of  maternal  vanity.  We 
are  reluctant  to  counsel  strong  measures,  but 
really  the  evils  are  so  great  as  to  justify,  or 
even  to  demand,  a peremptory  interference 
on  the  part  of  fathers. 

Our  conclusions  are,  then — that,  while  the 
clothing  of  children  should  never  be  in  such 
excess  as  to  create  oppressive  warmth,  it 
should  always  be  sufficient  to  prevent  any 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION . 


243 


general  feeling  of  cold ; * that,  instead  of  the 
flimsy  cotton,  linen,  or  mixed  fabrics  com- 
monly used,  it  should  he  made  of  some  good 
non-conductor,  such  as  coarse  woollen  cloth; 
that  it  should  be  so  strong  as  to  receive  little 
damage  from  the  hard  wear  and  tear  which 
childish  sports  will  give  it ; and  that  its  col- 
ors should  he  such  as  will  not  soon  suffer  from 
use  and  exposure. 

To  the  importance  of  bodily  exercise  most 
people  are  in  some  degree  awake.  Perhaps 
less  needs  saying  on  this  requisite  of  physical 
education  than  on  most  others : at  any  rate, 
in  so  far  as  boys  are  concerned.  Public 
schools  and  private  schools  alike  furnish  tol- 
erably adequate  playgrounds;  and  there  is 
usually  a fair  share  of  time  for  out-of-door 
games,  and  a recognition  of  them  as  needful. 
In  this,  if  in  no  other  direction,  it  seems  ad- 
mitted that  the  natural  promptings  of  boyish 
instinct  may  advantageously  be  followed; 
and,  indeed,  in  the  modern  practice  of  break- 
ing the  prolonged  morning  and  afternoon’s 
lessons  by  a few  minutes’  open-air  recreation, 
we  see  an  increasing  tendency  to  conform 


* It  is  needful  to  remark  that  children  whose  legs  and  arms 
have  been  from  the  beginning  habitually  without  covering, 
cease  to  be  conscious  that  the  exposed  surfaces  are  cold ; just 
as  by  use  we  have  all  ceased  to  be  conscious  that  our  faces 
are  cold,  even  when  out  of  doors.  But  though  in  such  chil- 
dren the  sensations  no  longer  protest,  it  does  not  follow  that 
the  system  escapes  injury ; any  more  than  it  follows  that  the 
Fuegian  is  undamaged  by  exposure,  because  he  bears  with 
indifference  the  melting  of  the  falling  snow,  on  his  naked  body. 


244 


EDUCATION . 


school  regulations  to  the  bodily  sensations  of 
the  pupils.  Here,  then,  little  needs  to  be  said 
in  the  way  of  expostulation  or  suggestion. 

But  we  have  been  obliged  to  qualify  this  ad- 
mission by  inserting  the  clause  ‘ ‘ in  so  far 
as  boys  are  concerned.”  Unfortunately,  the 
fact  is  quite  otherwise  in  the  case  of  girls. 
It  chances,  somewhat  strangely,  that  we  have 
daily  opportunity  of  drawing^  a comparison. 
We  have  both  a boy’s  and  a girl’s  school  with- 
in view ; and  the  contrast  between  them  is  re- 
markable. In  the  one  case,  nearly  the  whole 
of  a large  garden  is  turned  into  an  open, 
gravelled  space,  affording  ample  scope  for 
games,  and  supplied  with  poles  and  horizontal 
bars  for  gymnastic  exercises.  Every  day  be- 
fore breakfast,  again  towards  eleven  o’clock, 
again  at  midday,  again  in  the  afternoon,  and 
once  more  after  school  is  over  the  neighbor- 
hood is  awakened  by  a chorus  of  shouts  and 
laughter  as  the  boys  rush  out  to  play ; and 
for  as  long  as  they  remain,  both  eyes  and  ears 
give  proof  that  they  are  absorbed  in  that  en- 
joyable activity  which  makes  the  pulse 
bound  and  ensures  the  healthful  activity  of 
every  organ.  How  unlike  is  the  picture  of- 
fered by  the  “Establishment  for  Young  La- 
dies”! Until  the  fact  was  pointed  out,  we 
actually  did  not  know  that  we  had  a girls’ 
school  as  close  to  us  as  the  school  for  boys. 
The  garden,  equally  large  with  the  other, 
affords  no  sign  whatever  of  any  provision 
for  juvenile  recreation;  but  is  entirely  laid 
out  with  prim  grassplots,  gravel-walks, 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


245 


shrubs,  and  flowers,  after  the  usual  suburban, 
style.  During  five  months  we  have  not  once 
had  our  attention  drawn  to  the  premises  by 
a shout  or  a laugh.  Occasionally  girls  may 
be  observed  sauntering  along  the  paths  with 
their  lesson  books  in  their  hands,  or  else  walk- 
ing arm-in-arm.  Once,  indeed,  we  saw  one 
chase  another  round  the  garden;  but,  with 
this  exception,  nothing  like  vigorous  exertion 
has  been  visible. 

Why  this  astonishing  difference?  Is  it  that 
the  constitution  of  a girl  differs  so  entirely 
from  that  of  a boy  as  not  to  need  these  act- 
ive exercises?  Is  it  that  a girl  has  none  of 
the  promptings  to  vociferous  play  by  which 
boys  are  impelled?  Or  is  it  that,  while  in 
boys  these  promptings  are  to  be  regarded  as 
securing  that  bodily  activity  without  which 
there  cannot  be  adequate  development,  to 
their  sisters  nature  has  given  them  for  no 
purpose  whatever— -unless  it  be  for  the  vex- 
ation of  schoolmistresses?  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, w'e  mistake  the  aim  of  those  who  train 
the  gentler  sex.  We  have  a vague  suspicion 
that  to  produce  a robust  physique  is  thought 
undesirable;  that  rude  health  and  abundant 
vigor  are  considered  somewhat  plebeian ; 
that  a certain  delicacy;  a strength  not  compe- 
tent to  more  than  a mile  or  two’s  walk,  an 
appetite  fastidious  and  easily  satisfied,  joined 
with  that  timidity  which  commonly  accom- 
panies feebleness  are  held  more  lady-like.  We 
do  not  expect  that  any  would  distinctly  avow 
this;  but  we  fancy  the  governess-mind  is 


248 


EDUCATION. 


haunted  by  an  ideal  young  lady  bearing  not  a 
little  resemblance  to  this  type.  If  so,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  established  system  is 
admirably  calculated  to  realize  this  ideal. 
But  to  suppose  that  such  is  the  ideal  of  the 
opposite  sex  is  a profound  mistake.  That 
men  are  not  commonly  drawn  towards  mascu- 
line women,  is  doubtless  true.  That  such 
relative  weakness  as  calls  for  the  protection 
of  superior  strength  is  an  element  of  attrac- 
tion, we  quite  admit.  But  the  difference  to 
which  the  feelings  thus  respond  is  the  natural, 
pre-established  difference,  which  wull  assert 
itself  without  artificial  appliances.  And 
when,  by  artificial  appliances,  the  degree  of 
this  difference  is  increased,  it  becomes  an  ele- 
ment of  repulsion  rather  than  attraction. 

“Then  girls  should  be  allowed  to  run  wild 
— to  become  as  rude  as  boys,  and  grow  up 
into  romps  and  hoydens ! ” exclaims  some  de- 
fender of  the  proprieties.  This,  we  presume, 
is  the  ever-present  dread  of  schoolmistresses. 
It  appears,  on  inquiry,  that  at  “Establish- 
ments for  Young  Ladies  ” noisy  play  like  that 
daily  indulged  in  by  boys,  is  a punishable 
offence;  and  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  this 
noisy  play  is  forbidden,  lest  unlady-like  habits 
should  be  formed.  The  fear  is  quite  ground- 
less, however.  For  if  the  sportive  activity 
allowed  to  boys  does  not  prevent  them  from 
growing  up  into  gentlemen ; why  should  a like 
sportive  activity  allowed  to  girls  prevent 
them  from  growing  up  into  ladies?  Rough  as 
may  have  been  their  accustomed  play-ground 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


247 


frolics,  youths  who  have  left  school  do  not 
indulge  in  leapfrog  in  the  street,  or  marbles 
in  the  drawing-room.  Abandoning  their 
jackets,  they  abandon  at  the  same  time  boy- 
ish games ; and  display  an  anxiety — often  a 
ludicrous  anxiety — to  avoid  whatever  is  not 
manly.  If  now,  on  arriving  at  the  due  age, 
this  feeling  of  masculine  dignity  puts  so  effi- 
cient a restraint  on  the  romping  sports  of  boy- 
hood, will  not  the  feeling  of  feminine  mod- 
esty, gradually  strengthening  as  maturity  is 
approached,  but  an  efficient  restraint  on  the 
like  sports  of  girlhood?  Have  not  women 
even  a greater  regard  for  appearances  than 
men?  and  will  there  not  consequently  arise 
in  them  even  a stronger  check  to  whatever  is 
rough  or  boisterous  ? How  absurd  is  the 
supposition  that  the  womanly  instincts  would 
not  assert  themselves  but  for  the  rigorous  dis- 
cipline of  schoolmistresses ! 

In  this,  as  in  other  cases,  to  remedy  the 
evils  of  one  artificiality,  another  artificiality 
has  been  introduced.  The  natural  spontane- 
ous exercise  having  been  forbidden,  and  the 
bad  consequences  of  no  exercise  having  become 
conspicuous,  there  has  been  adopted  a system 
of  factitious  exercise — gymnastics.  That  this 
is  better  than  nothing  we  admit ; but  that  it 
is  an  adequate  substitute  for  play  we  deny. 
The  defects  are  both  positive  and  negative. 
In  the  first  place,  these  formal,  muscular 
motions,  necessarily  much  less  varied  than 
those  accompanying  juvenile  sports,  do  not 
secure  so  equable  a distribution  of  action  to 


248. 


EDUCATION . 


all  parts  of  the  body ; whence  it  results  that 
the  exertion,  falling  on  special  parts,  produces 
fatigue  sooner  than  it  would  else  have  done : 
add  to  which,  that,  if  constantly  repeated, 
this  exertion  of  special  parts  leads  to  a dispro- 
portionate development.  Again,  the  quantity 
of  exercise  thus  taken  will  he  deficient,  not 
only  in  consequence  of  uneven  distribution, 
but  it  will  be  further  deficient  in  consequence 
of  lack  of  interest.  Even  when  not  made 
repulsive,  as  they  sometimes  are,  by  assuming 
the  shape  of  appointed  lessons,  these  monot- 
onous movements  are  sure  to  become  weari- 
some, from  the  absence  of  amusement.  Com- 
petition, it  is  true,  serves  as  a stimulus;  but 
it  is  not  a lasting  stimulus,  like  that  enjoy- 
ment which  accompanies  varied  play.  Not 
only,  however,  are  gymnastics  inferior  in 
respect  of  the  quantity  of  muscular  exertion 
which  they  secure;  they  are  still  more  in- 
ferior in  respect  of  the  quality . This  com- 
parative want  of  enjoyment  to  which  we 
have  just  referred  as  a cause  of  early  desist- 
ance  from  artificial  exercises,  is  also  a cause 
of  inferiority  in  the  effects  they  produce  on 
the  system.  The  common  assumption  that  so 
long  as  the  amount  of  bodily  action  is  the 
same,  it  matters  not  whether  it  be  pleasurable 
or  otherwise,  is  a grave  mistake.  An  agree- 
able mental  excitement  has  a highly  invigor- 
ating influence.  See  the  effect  produced  upon 
an  invalid  by  good  news,  or  by  the  visit  of  an 
old  friend.  Mark  how  careful  medical  men 
are  to  recommend  lively  society  to  debilitated 


PHYSICAL  ED  UCA  TION. 1 249 

patients.  Remember  how  beneficial  to  the 
health  is  the  gratification  produced  by  change 
of  scene.  The  truth  is  that  happiness  is  the 
most  powerful  of  tonics.  By  accelerating 
the  circulation  of  the  blood,  it  facilitates 
the  performance  of  every  function;  and  so 
tends  alike  to  increase  health  when  it  exists, 
and  to  restore  it  when  it  has  been  lost. 
Hence  the  essential  superiority  of  play  to 
gymnastics.  The  extreme  interest  felt  by 
children  in  their  games,  and  the  riotous  glee 
with  which  they  carry  on  their  rougher 
frolics,  are  of  as  much  importance  as  the 
accompanying  exertion.  And  as  not  supply- 
ing these  mental  stimuli,  gymnastics  must  be 
fundamentally  defective. 

Granting  then,  as  we  do,  that  formal  exer- 
cises of  the  limbs  are  better  than  nothing — 
granting,  further,  that  they  may  be  used 
with  advantage  as  supplementary  aids;  we 
yet  contend  that  such  formal  exercises  can 
never  supply  the  place  of  the  exercises 
prompted  by  nature.  For  girls,  as  well  as 
boys,  the  sportive  activities  to  which  the  in- 
stincts impel,  are  essential  to  bodily  welfare. 
Whoever  forbids  them,  forbids  the  divinely- 
appointed  means  to  physical  development. 

A topic  still  remains — one  perhaps  more  ur- 
gently demanding  consideration  than  any  of 
the  foregoing.  It  is  asserted  by  not  a few, 
that  among  the  educated  classes  the  younger 
adults  and  those  who  are  verging  upon  matur- 
ity are,  on  the  average,  neither  so  well  grown 


250 


EDUCATION. 


nor  so  strong  as  their  seniors.  When  first 
we  heard  this  assertion,  we  were  inclined  to 
disregard  it  as  one  of  the  many  manifestations 
of  the  old  tendency  to  exalt  the  past  at  the 
expense  of  the  present.  Calling  to  mind  the 
facts  that,  as  measured  by  ancient  armor, 
modern  men  are  proved  to  be  larger  than  an- 
cient men,  and  that  the  tables  of  mortality 
show  no  diminution,  but  rather  an  increase 
in  the  duration  of  life,  we  paid  little  attention 
to  what  seemed  a groundless  belief.  Detailed 
observation,  however,  has  greatly  shaken 
our  opinion.  Omitting  from  the  comparison 
the  laboring  classes,  we  have  noticed  a major- 
ity of  cases  in  which  the  children  do  not 
reach  the  stature  of  their  parents;  and  in 
massiveness,  making  due  allowance  for  dif- 
ference of  age,  there  seems  a like  inferiority. 
In  health,  the  contrast  appears  still  greater. 
Men  of  past  generations,  living  riotously  as 
they  did,  could  bear  much  more  than  men  of 
the  present  generation,  who  live  soberly,  can 
bear.  Though  they  drank  hard,  kept  irregu- 
lar hours,  were  regardless  of  fresh  air,  and 
thought  little  of  cleanliness,  our  recent  ances- 
tors were  capable  of  prolonged  application 
without  injury,  even  to  a ripe  old  age:  wit- 
ness the  annals  of  the  bench  and  the  bar. 
Yet  we  who  think  much  about  our  bodily 
welfare;  who  eat  with  moderation,  and  do 
not  drink  to  excess;  who  attend  to  ventila- 
tion, and  use  frequent  ablutions;  who  make 
annual  excursions,  and  have  the  benefit  of 
greater  medical  knowledge ; — we  are  continu- 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


251 


ally  breaking  down  under  our  work.  Paying 
considerable  attention  to  the  laws  of  health, 
we  seem  to  be  weaker  than  our  grandfathers 
who,  in  many  respects,  defied  the  laws  of 
health.  And,  judging  from  the  appearance 
and  frequent  ailments  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion, they  are  likely  to  be  even  less  robust 
than  ourselves. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this?  Is  it  that 
past  over-feeding,  alike  of  adults  and  juve- 
niles, was  less  injurious  than  the  under-feed- 
ing to  which  we  have  adverted  as  now  so  gen- 
eral? Is  it  that  the  deficient  clothing  which 
this  delusive  hardening  theory  has  encour- 
aged, is  to  blame?  Is  it  that  the  greater  or 
less  discouragement  of  juvenile  sports,  in 
deference  to  a false  refinement,  is  the  cause? 
From  our  reasonings  it  may  be  inferred  that 
each  of  these  has  probably  had  a share  in 
producing  the  evil.  But  there  has  been  yet 
another  detrimental  influence  at  work,  per- 
haps more  potent  than  any  of  the  others : we 
mean — excess  of  mental  application. 

On  old  and  young,  the  pressure  of  modern 
life  puts  a still-increasing  strain.  In  all  busi- 
nesses and  professions,  intenser  competition 
taxes  the  energies  and  abilities  of  every 
adult;  and,  with  the  view  of  better  fitting  the 
young  to  hold  their  place  under  this  intenser 
competition,  they  are  subject  to  a more  severe 
discipline  than  heretofore.  The  damage  is 
thus  doubled.  Fathers,  who  find  not  only 
that  they  are  run  hard  by  their  multiplying 
competitors,  but  that,  while  laboring  under 


252 


EDUCATION. 


this  disadvantage,  they  have  to  maintain  a 
more  expensive  style  of  living,  are  all  the 
year  round  obliged  to  work  early  and  late, 
taking  little  exercise  and  getting  but  short 
holidays.  The  constitutions,  shaken  by  this 
long  continued  over-application,  they  be- 
queath to  their  children.  And  then  these 
comparatively  feeble  children,  predisposed  as 
they  are  to  break  down  even  under  an  ordi- 
nary strain  upon  their  energies,  are  required 
to  go  through  a curriculum  much  more  ex- 
tended than  that  prescribed  for  the  unen- 
feebled children  of  past  generations. 

That  disastrous  consequences  must  result 
from  this  cumulative  transgression  might  be 
predicted  with  certainty;  and  that  they  do 
result,  every  observant  person  knows.  Go 
where  you  will,  and  before  long  there  come 
under  your  notice  cases  of  children,  or 
youths,  of  either  sex,  more  or  less  injured  by 
undue  study.  Here,  to  recover  from  a state 
of  debility  thus  produced,  a year’s  rustication 
has  been  found  necessary.  There  you  find  a 
chronic  congestion  of  the  brain,  that  has  al- 
ready lasted  many  months,  and  threatens  to 
last  much  longer.  Now  you  hear  of  a fever 
that  resulted  from  the  over-excitement  in 
some  way  brought  on  at  school.  And,  again, 
the  instance  is  that  of  a youth  who  has  already 
had  once  to  desist  from  his  studies,  and  who, 
since  he  has  returned  to  them,  is  frequently 
taken  out  of  his  class  in  a fainting  fit.  We 
state  facts — facts  that  have  not  been  sought 
for,  but  have  been  thrust  upon  our  observa- 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION . 


253 


tion  during  the  last  two  years ; and  that,  too, 
within  a very  limited  range.  Nor  have  we  by 
any  means  exhausted  the  list.  Quite  recently 
we  had  the  opportunity  of  marking  how  the 
evil  becomes  hereditary : the  case  being  that 
of  a lady  of  robust  parentage,  whose  system 
was  so  injured  by  the  regime  of  a Scotch 
boarding-school,  where  she  was  under-fed  and 
over-worked,  that  she  invariably  suffers  from 
vertigo  on  rising  in  the  morning ; and  whose 
children,  inheriting  this  enfeebled  brain,  are 
several  of.them  unable  to  bear  even  a moder- 
ate amount  of  study  without  headache  or  gid- 
diness, At  the  present  time  we  have  daily 
under  our  eyes,  a young  lady  whose  system 
has  been  damaged  for  life  by  the  college-course 
through  which  she  has  passed.  Taxed  as  she 
was  to  such  an  extent  that  she  had  no  energy 
left  for  exercise,  she  is,  now  that  she  has  fin- 
ished her  education,  a constant  complainant. 
Appetite  small  and  very  capricious,  mostly 
refusing  meat;  extremities  perpetually  cold, 
even  when  the  weather  is  warm ; a feebleness 
which  forbids  anything  but  the  slowest  walk- 
ing, and  that  only  for  a short  time ; palpita- 
tion on  going  up  stairs ; greatly  impaired  vis- 
ion— these,  joined  with  checked  growth  and 
lax  tissue,  are  among  the  results  entailed. 
And  to  her  case  we  may  add  that  of  her 
friend  and  fellow-student;  who  is  similarly 
weak ; who  is  liable  to  faint  even  under  the 
excitement  of  a quiet  party  of  friends;  and 
who  has  at  length  been  obliged  by  her  medi- 
cal attendant  to  desist  from  study  entirely. 


254 


EDUCATION . 


If  injuries  so  conspicuous  are  thus  frequent, 
how  very  general  must  be  the  smaller  and  in- 
conspicuous injuries.  To  one  case  where  pos- 
itive illness  is  directly  traceable  to  over-appli- 
cation, there  are  probably  at  least  half-a-doz- 
en cases  where  the  evil  is  unobtrusive  and 
slowly  accumulating — cases  where  there  is 
frequent  derangement  of  the  functions,  attrib- 
uted to  this  or  that  special  cause,  or  to  con- 
stitutional delicacy ; cases  where  there  is  re- 
tardation and  premature  arrest  of  bodily 
growth;  cases  where  a latent  tendency  to 
consumption  is  brought  out  and  established ; 
cases  where  a predisposition  is  given  to  that 
now  common  cerebral  disorder  brought  on  by 
the  hard  work  of  adult  life.  How  commonly 
constitutions  are  thus  undermined,  will  be 
clear  to  all  who  after  noting  the  frequent  ail- 
ments of  hard- worked  professional  and  mer- 
cantile men,  will  reflect  on  the  disastrous  ef- 
fects which  undue  application  must  produce 
upon  the  undeveloped  systems  of  the  young. 
The  young  are  competent  to  bear  neither  as 
much  hardship,  nor  as  much  physical  exer- 
tion, nor  as  much  mental  exertion,  as  the  full 
grown.  Judge,  then,  if  the  full  grown  so 
manifestly  suffer  from  the  excessive  mental 
exertion  required  of  them,  how  great  must  be 
the  damage  which  a mental  exertion,  often 
equally  excessive,  inflicts  upon  the  young ! 

Indeed,  when  we  examine  the  merciless 
school  drill  to  which  many  children  are  sub- 
jected, the  wonder  is,  not  that  it  does  great 
injury,  but  that  it  can  be  borne  at  all.  Take 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


255 


the  instance  given  by  Sir  John  Forbes  from 
personal  knowledge;  and  which  he  asserts, 
after  much  inquiry,  to  be  an  average  sam- 
ple of  the  middle-class  girFs-school  system 
throughout  England.  Omitting  the  detailed 
divisions  of  time,  we  quote  the  summary  of 
the  twenty-four  hours. 


In  bed 

In  school,  at  their  studies  and 

tasks 

In  school,  or  in  the  house,  the 
older  at  optional  studies  or 
the  work,  younger  at  play  . 
At  meals 

Exercise  in  the  open  air,  in 
the  shape  of  a formal  walk, 
often  with  lesson-books  in 
hand,  and  even  this  only 
when  the  weather  is  fine  at 
the  appointed  time 


9 hours  (the  younger  10) 
9 “ 

3£  “ (the  younger  2i) 
U " 

1 “ 


24 


And  what  are  the  results  of  this  “ astound- 
ing regimen,”  as  Sir  John  Forbes  terms  it? 
Of  course  feebleness,  pallor,  want  of  spir- 
its, general  ill-health.  But  he  describes  some- 
thing more.  This  utter  disregard  of  physical 
welfare,  out  of  extreme  anxiety  to  cultivate 
the  mind — this  prolonged  exercise  of  the 
brain  and  deficient  exercise  of  the  limbs, — he 
found  to  be  habitually  followed,  not  only  by 
disordered  functions  but  by  malformation. 
He  says: — “We  lately  visited,  in  a large 
town,  a boarding-school  containing  forty  girls ; 
and  we  learnt,  on  close  and  accurate  inquiry, 


256 


EDUCATION. 


that  there  was  not  one  of  the  girls  who  had 
been  at  the  school  two  years  (and  the  majori- 
ty had  been  as  long)  that  was  not  more  or  less 
crooked  ! ” * 

It  may  be  that  since  1833,  when  this  was 
written,  some  improvement  has  taken  place. 
We  hope  it  has.  But  that  the  system  is  still 
common — nay,  that  it  is  in  some  cases  carried 
even  to  a greater  extreme  than  ever ; we  can 
personally  testify.  We  recently  went  over  a 
training  college  for  young  men:  one  of  those 
instituted  of  late  years  for  the  purpose  of  sup- 
plying schools  with  well-disciplined  teachers. 
Here  under  official  supervision,  where  some- 
thing better  than  the  judgment  of  private 
schoolmistresses  might  have  been  looked  for, 
we  found  the  daily  routine  to  as  follows : — 

At  6 o’clock  the  students  are  called, 

“ 7 to  8 studies, 

“ 8 to  9 scripture  reading,  prayers,  and  breakfast, 

“ 9 to  12  studies, 

“ 12  to  11  leisure,  nominally  devoted  to  walk  or  other  ex- 
ercise, but  often  spent  in  study, 

“ 11  to  2 dinner,  the  meal  commonly  occupying  twenty 
minutes, 

“ 2 to  5 studies, 

“ 5 to  6 tea  and  relaxation, 

“ 6 to  81  studies, 

“ 81  to  91  private  studies  in  preparing  lessons  for  the  next 
day, 

“ 10  to  bed. 

Thus,  out  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  eight 
are  devoted  to  sleep ; four  and  a quarter  are 
occupied  in  dressing,  prayers,  meals,  and  the 
brief  periods  of  rest  accompanying  them ; ten 


* “ Cyclopaedia  of  Practical  Medicine,”  vol.  i.  pp.  697,  698. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


257 


and  a half  are  given  to  study ; and  one  and  a 
quarter  to  exercise,  which  is  optional  and 
often  avoided.  Not  only,  however,  is  it  that 
the  ten  and  a half  hours  of  recognized  study 
are  frequently  increased  to  eleven  and  a half 
by  devoting  to  books  the  time  set  apart  for 
exercise;  but  some  of  the  students  who  are 
not  quick  in  learning,  get  up  at  four  o’clock 
in  the  morning  to  prepare  their  lessons ; and 
are  actually  encouraged  by  their  teachers  to 
do  this ! The  course  to  be  passed  through  in 
a given  time  is  so  extensive;  the  teachers, 
whose  credit  is  at  stake  in  getting  their  pupils 
well  through  the  examinations,  are  so  urgent ; 
and  the  difficulty  of  satisfying  the  require- 
ments is  so  great ; that  pupils  are  not  uncom- 
monly induced  to  spend  twelve  and  thirteen 
hours  a day  in  mental  labor ! 

It  needs  no  prophet  to  see  that  the  bodily 
injury  inflicted  must  be  great.  As  we  were 
told  by  one  of  the  inmates,  those  who  arrive 
with  fresh  complexions  quickly  become 
blanched.  Illness  is  frequent:  there  are  al- 
ways some  on  the  sick-list.  Failure  of  appe- 
tite and  indigestion  are  very  common.  Diar- 
rhoea is  a prevalent  disorder:  not  uncom- 
monly a third  of  the  whole  number  of  stu- 
dents suffering  under  it  at  the  same  time. 
Headache  is  generally  complained  of ; and  by 
some  is  borne  almost  daily  for  months. 
While  a certain  percentage  break  down  en- 
tirely and  go  away. 

That  this  should  be  the  regimen  of  what  is 
in  some  sort  a model  institution,  established 
17 


258 


EDUCATION. 


and  superintended  by  the  embodied  enlight- 
enment of  the  age,  is  a startling  fact.  That 
the  severe  examinations,  joined  with  the 
short  period  assigned  for  preparation,  should 
practically  compel  recourse  to  a system  which 
inevitably  undermines  the  health  of  all  who 
pass  through  it,  is  proof,  if  not  of  cruelty, 
then  of  woful  ignorance. 

Doubtless  the  case  is  in  a great  degree  ex- 
ceptional— perhaps  to  be  paralleled  only  in 
other  institutions  of  the  same  class.  But  that 
cases  so  extreme  should  exist  at  all,  indicates 
pretty  clearly  how  great  is  the  extent  to 
which  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation  are 
overtasked.  Expressing  as  they  do  the  ideas 
of  the  educated  community,  these  training 
colleges,  even  in  the  absence  of  all  other  evi- 
dence, would  conclusively  imply  a prevailing 
tendency  to  an  unduly  urgent  system  of  cult- 
ure. 

It  seems  strange  that  there  should  be  so  lit- 
tle consciousness  of  the  dangers  of  over-edu- 
cation during  youth,  when  there  is  so  gen- 
eral a consciousness  of  the  dangers  of  over- 
education during  childhood.  Most  parents 
are  more  or  less  aware  of  the  evil  conse- 
quences that  follow  infant  precocity.  In 
every  society  may  be  heard  reprobation  of 
those  who  too  early  stimulate  the  minds  of 
their  little  ones.  And  the  dread  of  this  early 
stimulation  is  great  in  proportion  as  there  is 
adequate  knowledge  of  the  effects : witness  the 
implied  opinion  of  one  of  our  most  distin- 
guished professors  of  physiology,  who  told  us 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


259 


that  he  did  not  intend  his  little  boy  to  learn 
any  lessons  until  he  was  eight  years  old.  But 
while  to  all  it  is  a familiar  truth  that  a forced 
development  of  intelligence  in  childhood 
entails  disastrous  results — either  physical 
feebleness,  or  ultimate  stupidity,  or  early 
death — it  appears  not  to  be  perceived  that 
throughout  youth  the  same  truth  holds.  Yet 
it  is  certain  that  it  must  do  so.  There  is  a 
given  order  in  which,  and  a given  rate  at 
which,  the  faculties  unfold.  If  the  course  of 
education  conforms  itself  to  that  order  and 
rate,  well.  If  not — if  the  higher  faculties  are 
early  taxed  by  presenting  an  order  of  knowl- 
edge more  complex  and  abstract  than  can  be 
readily  assimilated;  or  if,  by  excess  of  cult- 
ure, the  intellect  in  general  is  developed  to  a 
degree  beyond  that  which  is  natural  to  the 
age ; the  abnormal  result  so  produced  will  in- 
evitably be  accompanied  by  some  equivalent, 
or  more  than  equivalent,  evil. 

For  Nature  is  a strict  accountant;  and  if 
you  demand  of  her  in  one  direction  more  than 
she  is  prepared  to  lay  out,  she  balances  the 
account  by  making  a deduction  elsewhere.  If 
you  will  let  her  follow  her  own  course,  taking 
care  to  supply,  in  right  quantities  and  kinds, 
the  raw  materials  of  bodily  and  mental 
growth  required  at  each  age,  she  will  event- 
ually produce  an  individual  more  or  less 
evenly  developed.  If,  however,  you  insist  on 
premature  or  undue  growth  of  any  one  part, 
she  will,  with  more  or  less  protest,  concede 
the  point;  but  that  she  may  do  your  extra 


260 


EDUCATION. 


work,  she  must  leave  some  of  her  more  im- 
portant work  undone.  Let  it  never  be  for- 
gotten that  the  amount  of  vital  energy  which 
the  body  at  any  moment  possesses  is  limited ; 
and  that,  being  limited,  it  is  impossible  to  get 
from  it  more  than  a fixed  quantity  of  results. 
In  a child  or  youth  the  demands  upon  this 
vital  energy  are  various  and  urgent.  As  be- 
fore pointed  out,  the  waste  consequent  on  the 
day’s  bodily  exercise  has  to  be  repaired ; the 
wear  of  brain  entailed  by  the  day’s  study  has 
to  be  made  good ; a certain  additional  growth 
of  body  has  to  be  provided  for;  and  also  a 
certain  additional  growth  of  brain:  add  to 
which  the  amount  of  energy  absorbed  in  the 
digestion  of  the  large  quantity  of  food  re- 
quired for  meeting  these  many  demands. 
Now,  that  to  divert  an  excess  of  energy  into 
any  one  of  these  channels  is  to  abstract  it 
from  the  others,  is  not  only  manifest  a priori; 
but  may  be  shown  a posteriori  from  the  ex- 
perience of  every  one.  Every  one  knows,  for 
instance,  that  the  digestion  of  a heavy  meal 
makes  such  a demand  on  the  system  as  to 
produce  lassitude  of  mind  and  body,  ending 
not  unfrequently  in  sleep.  Every  one  knows, 
too,  that  excess  of  bodily  exercise  diminishes 
the  power  of  thought — that  the  temporary 
prostration  following  any  sudden  exertion,  or 
the  fatigue  produced  by  a thirty  miles’  walk, 
is  accompanied  by  a disinclination  to  mental 
effort ; that,  after  a month’s  pedestrian  tour, 
the  mental  inertia  is  such  that  some  days  are 
required  to  overcome  it ; and  that  in  peasants 


PHYSICAL  pH  UCA  TIOX. 


261 


who  spend  their  lives  in  muscular  labor  the 
activity  of  mind  is  very  small.  Again,  it  is  a 
truth  familiar  to  all  that  during  those  fits  of 
extreme  rapid  growth  which  sometimes  oc- 
cur in  childhood,  the  great  abstraction  of  en- 
ergy is  shown  in  the  attendant  prostration, 
bodily  and  mental.  Once  more,  the  facts 
that  violent  muscular  exertion  after  eating 
will  stop  digestion,  and  that  children  who  are 
early  put  to  hard  labor  become  stunted,  sim- 
ilarly exhibit  the  antagonism — similarly  im- 
ply that  excess  of  activity  in  one  direction  in- 
volves deficiency  of  it  in  other  directions. 
Now,  the  law  which  is  thus  manifest  in  ex- 
treme cases  holds  in  all  cases.  These  inju- 
rious abstractions  of  energy  as  certainly  take 
place  when  the  undue  demands  are  slight  and 
constant,  as  when  they  are  great  and  sudden. 
Hence,  if  in  youth,  the  expenditure  in  mental 
labor  exceeds  that  which  nature  had  provided 
for ; the  expenditure  for  other  purposes  falls 
below  what  it  should  have  been : and  evils  of 
one  kind  or  other  are  inevitably  entailed. 
Let  us  briefly  consider  these  evils. 

Supposing  the  over- activity  of  brain  not  to 
be  extreme,  but  to  exceed  the  normal  activity 
only  in  a moderate  degree,  there  will  be 
nothing  more  than  some  slight  reaction  on 
the  development  of  the  body:  the  stature 
falling  a little  below  that  which  it  would  else 
have  reached ; or  the  bulk  being  less  than  it 
would  have  been;  or  the  quality  of  tissue 
being  not  so  good.  One  or  more  of  these 
effects  must  necessarily  occur.  The  extra 


262 


EDUCATION. 


quantity  of  blood  supplied  to  the  brain,  not 
only  during  the  period  of  mental  exertion, 
but  during  the  subsequent  period  in  which 
the  waste  of  cerebral  substance  is  being 
made  good,  is  blood  that  would  else  have 
been  circulating  through  the  limbs  and 
viscera ; and  the  amount  of  growth  or  repair 
for  which  that  blood  would  have  supplied 
materials,  is  lost.  This  physical  reaction 
being  certain,  the  question  is,  whether  the 
gain  resulting  from  the  extra  culture  is  equiv- 
alent to  the  loss? — whether  defect  of  bodily 
growth,  or  the  want  of  that  structural  perfec- 
tion which  gives  high  vigor  and  endurance, 
is  compensated  for  by  the  additional  knowl- 
edge gained? 

When  the  excess  of  mental  exertion  is 
greater,  there  follow  results  far  more  serious ; 
telling  not  only  against  bodily  perfection, 
but  against  the  perfection  of  the  brain  itself. 
It  is  a physiological  law,  first  pointed  out  by 
M.  Isidore  St.  Hilaire,  and  to  which  attention 
has  been  drawn  by  Mr.  Lewes  in  his  essay  on 
“Dwarfs  and  Giants,”  that  there  is  an  antag- 
onism between  growth  and  development.  By 
growth,  as  used  in  this  antithetical  sense,  is  to 
be  understood  increase  of  size;  by  develop- 
ment, increase  of  structure.  And  the  law  is, 
that  great  activity  in  either  of  these  proc- 
esses involves  retardation  or  arrest  of  the 
other.  A familiar  illustration  is  furnished  by 
the  cases  of  the  caterpillar  and  the  chrysalis. 
In  the  caterpillar  there  is  extremely  rapid 
augmentation  of  bulk;  but  the  structure  is 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


263 


scarcely  at  all  more  complex  when  the  cater- 
pillar is  full-grown  than  when  it  is  small.  In 
the  chrysalis  the  bulk  does  not  increase ; on 
the  contrary,  weight  is  lost  during  this  stage 
of  the  creature’s  life ; but  the  elaboration  of  a 
more  complex  structure  goes  on  with  great 
activity.  The  antagonism,  here  so  clear,  is 
less  traceable  in  higher  creatures,  because  the 
two  processes  are  carried  on  together.  But 
we  see  it  pretty  well  illustrated  among  our- 
selves by  contrasting  the  sexes.  A girl  de- 
velops in  body  and  mind  rapidly,  and  ceases 
to  grow  comparatively  early.  A boy’s  bodily 
and  mental  development  is  slower,  and  his 
growth  greater.  At  the  age  when  the  one  is 
mature,  finished,  and  having  all  faculties  in 
full  play,  the  other,  whose  vital  energies 
have  been  more  directed  towards  increase  of 
size,  is  relatively  incomplete  in  structure; 
and  shows  it  in  a comparative  awkwardness, 
bodily  and  mental.  Now  this  law  is  true  not 
only  of  the  organism  as  a whole,  but  of  each 
separate  part.  The  abnormally  rapid  ad- 
vance of  any  part  in  respect  of  structure  in- 
volves premature  arrest  of  its  growth ; and 
this  happens  with  the  organ  of  the  mind  as 
certainly  as  with  any  other  organ.  The  brain, 
w^hich  during  early  years  is  relatively  large 
in  mass  but  imperfect  in  structure  will,  if 
required  to  perform  its  functions  with  un- 
due activity,  undergo  a structural  advance 
greater  than  is  appropriate  to  the  age ; but 
the  ultimate  effect  will  be  a falling  short  of 
the  size  and  power  that  would  else  have  been 


264 


EDUCATION. 


attained.  And  this  is  a part  cause — proba- 
bly the  chief  cause — why  precocious  children, 
and  youths  who  up  to  a certain  time  were 
carrying  all  before  them,  so  often  stop  short 
and  disappoint  the  high  hopes  of  their  par- 
ents. 

But  these  results  of  over-education,  disas- 
trous as  they  are,  are  perhaps  less  disastrous 
than  the  results  produced  upon  the  health — 
the  undermined  constitution,  the  enfeebled 
energies,  the  morbid  feelings.  Recent  dis- 
coveries in  physiology  have  shown  how  im- 
mense is  the  influence,  of  the  brain  over  the 
functions  of  the  body.  The  digestion  of  the 
food,  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  and  through 
these  all  other  organic  processes,  are  pro- 
foundly affected  by  cerebral  excitement. 
Whoever  has  seen  repeated,  as  we  have,  the 
experiment  first  performed  by  Weber,  show- 
ing the  consequence  of  irritating  the  vagus 
nerve  which  connects  the  brain  with  the  vis- 
cera— whoever  has  seen  the  action  of  the 
heart  suddenly  arrested  by  the  irritation  of 
this  nerve ; slowly  recommencing  when  the 
irritation  is  suspended;  and  again  arrested 
the  moment  it  is  renewed ; will  have  a vivid 
conception  of  the  depressing  influence  which 
an  over-wrought  brain  exercises  on  the  body. 
The  effects  thus  physiologically  explained, 
are  indeed  exemplified  in  ordinary  experience. 
There  is  no  one  but  has  felt  the  palpitation 
accompanying  hope,  fear,  anger,  joy — no  one 
but  has  observed  how  labored  becomes  the 
action  of  the  heart  when  these  feelings  are 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


265 


very  violent.  And  though  there  are  many 
who  have  never  themselves  suffered  that  ex- 
treme emotional  excitement  which  is  follow- 
ed by  arrest  of  the  heart’s  action  and  fainting ; 
yet  every  one  knows  them  to  be  cause  and 
effect.  It  is  a familiar  fact,  too,  that  disturb- 
ance of  the  stomach  is  entailed  by  mental 
excitement  exceeding  a certain  intensity. 
Loss  of  appetite  is  a common  result  alike  of 
very  pleasurable  and  very  painful  states  of 
mind.  When  the  event  producing  a pleas- 
urable or  painful  state  of  mind  occurs  shortly 
after  a meal,  it  not  unfrequently  happens 
either  that  the  stomach  rejects  what  has 
been  eaten,  or  digests  it  with  great  difficulty 
and  under  prolonged  protest.  And  as  every 
one  who  taxes  his  brain  much  can  testify, 
even  purely  intellectual  action  will,  when  ex- 
cessive, produce  analogous  effects.  Now  the 
relation  between  brain  and  body  which  is  so 
manifest  in  these  extreme  cases,  holds  equal- 
ly in  ordinary,  less-marked  cases.  Just  as 
these  violent  but  temporary  cerebral  excite- 
ments produce  violent  but  temporary  disturb- 
ances of  the  viscera;  so  do  the  less  violent 
but  chronic  cerebral  excitements,  produce 
less  violent  but  chronic  visceral  disturbances. 
This  is  not  simply  an  inference — it  is  a truth 
to  which  every  medical  man  can  bear  wit- 
ness ; and  it  is  one  to  which  a long  and  sad 
experience  enables  us  to  give  personal  testi- 
mony. Various  degrees  and  forms  of  bodily 
derangement,  often  taking  years  of  enforced 
idleness  to  set  partially  right,  result  from 


266 


EDUCATION. 


this  prolonged  over-exertion  of  mind.  Some- 
times the  heart  is  chiefly  affected : habitual 
palpitations;  a pulse  much  enfeebled;  and 
very  generally  a diminution  in  the  number 
of  beats  from  seventy-two  to  sixty,  or  even 
fewer.  Sometimes  the  conspicuous  disorder 
is  of  the  stomach ; a dyspepsia  which  makes 
life  a burden,  and  is  amenable  to  no  remedy 
but  time.  In  many  cases  both  heart  and 
stomach  are  implicated.  Mostly  the  sleep  is 
short  and  broken.  And  very  generally  there 
is  more  or  less  mental  depression. 

Consider,  then,  how  great  must  be  the  dam- 
age inflicted  by  undue  mental  excitement  on 
children  and  youths.  More  or  less  of  this 
constitutional  disturbance  will  inevitably  fol- 
low an  exertion  of  brain  beyond  that  which 
nature  had  provided  for ; and  when  not  so  ex- 
cessive as  to  produce  absolute  illness,  is  sure 
to  entail  a slowly  accumulating  degeneracy 
of  physique.  With  a small  and  fastidious 
appetite,  an  imperfect  digestion,  and  an  en- 
feebled circulation,  how  can  the  developing 
body  flourish?  The  due  performance  of  every 
vital  process  depends  on  the  adequate  supply 
of  good  blood.  Without  enough  good  blood, 
no  gland  can  secrete  properly,  no  viscus  can 
fully  discharge  its  office.  Without  enough 
good  blood,  no  nerve,  muscle,  membrane,  or 
other  tissue  can  be  efficiently  repaired.  W ith- 
out  enough  good  blood,  growth  will  neither  be 
sound  nor  sufficient.  Judge  then,  how  bad 
must  be  the  consequences  when  to  a growing 
body  the  weakened  stomach  supplies  blood 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


267 


that  is  deficient  in  quantity  and  poor  in  qual- 
ity ; while  the  debilitated  heart  propels  this 
poor  and  scanty  blood  with  unnatural  slow- 
ness. 

And  if,  as  all  who  candidly  investigate  the 
matter  must  admit,  physical  degeneracy  is  a 
consequence  of  excessive  study,  how  grave  is 
the  condemnation  to  be  passed  upon  this  cram- 
ming system  above  exemplified.  It  is  a terri- 
ble mistake,  from  whatever  point  of  view  re- 
garded. It  is  a mistake  in  so  far  as  the  mere 
acquirement  of  knowledge  is  concerned:  for 
it  is  notorious  that  the  mind,  like  the  body, 
cannot  assimilate  beyond  a certain  rate ; and  if 
you  ply  it  with  facts  faster  than  it  can  assimi- 
late them,  they  are  very  soon  rejected  again : 
they  do  not  become  permanently  built  into  the 
intellectual  fabric ; but  fall  out  of  recollection 
after  the  passing  of  the  examination  for  which 
they  were  got  up.  It  is  a mistake,  too,  be- 
cause it  tends  to  make  study  distasteful. 
Either  through  the  painful  associations  pro- 
duced by  ceaseless  mental  toil,  or  through  the 
abnormal  state  of  brain  it  leaves  behind,  it 
often  generates  an  aversion  to  books ; and,  in- 
stead of  that  subsequent  self-culture  induced 
by  a rational  education,  there  comes  a contin- 
ued retrogression.  It  is  a mistake,  also,  inas- 
much as  it  assumes  that  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  is  everything ; and  forgets  that  a 
much  more  important  matter  is  the  organiza- 
tion of  knowledge,  for  which  time  and  spon- 
taneous thinking  are  requisite.  Just  as  Hum- 
boldt remarks  respecting  the  progress  of  intel- 


203 


EDUCATION . 


ligence  in  general,  that  ‘ ‘ the  interpretation  of 
nature  is  obscured  when  the  description  lan- 
guishes under  too  great  an  accumulation  of 
insulated  facts ; ” so  it  may  be  remarked,  re- 
specting the  progress  of  individual  intelli- 
gence, that  the  mind  is  overburdened  and 
hampered  by  an  excess  of  ill-digested  informa- 
tion. It  is  not  the  knowledge  stored  up  as 
intellectual  fat  which  is  of  value;  but  that 
which  is  turned  into  intellectual  muscle.  But 
the  mistake  is  still  deeper.  Even  were  the 
system  good  as  a system  of  intellectual  train- 
ing, which  it  is  not,  it  would  still  be  had,  be- 
cause, as  we  have  shown,  it  is  fatal  to  that 
vigor  of  physique  which  is  needful  to  make 
intellectual  training  available  in  the  struggle 
of  life.  Those  who,  in  Eagerness  to  cultivate 
their  pupils’  minds,  are  reckless  of  their  bodies, 
do  not  remember  that  success  in  the  world 
depends  much  more  upon  energy  than  upon 
information ; and  that  a policy  which  in  cram- 
ming with  information  undermines  energy,  is 
self-defeating.  The  strong  will  and  untiring 
activity  which  result  from  abundant  animal 
vigor,  go  far  to  compensate  even  for  great  de- 
fects of  education ; and  when  joined  with  that 
quite  adequate  education  which  may  be  ob- 
tained without  sacrificing  health,  they  ensure 
an  easy  victory  over  competitors  enfeebled  by 
excessive  study : prodigies  of  learning  though 
they  may  be.  A comparatively  small  and  ill- 
made  engine,  worked  at  high-pressure,  will 
do  more  than  a larger  and  well-finished  one 
worked  at  low-pressure.  What  folly  is  it, 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


269 


then,  while  finishing  the  engine,  so  to  damage 
the  boiler  that  it  will  not  generate  steam! 
Once  more,  the  system  is  a mistake,  as  involv- 
ing a false  estimate  of  welfare  in  life.  Even 
supposing  it  were  a means  to  worldly  success, 
instead  of  a means  to  worldly  failure,  yet,  in 
the  entailed  ill-health,  it  would  inflict  a more 
than  equivalent  curse.  What  hoots  it  to  have 
attained  wealth,  if  the  wealth  is  accompanied 
by  ceaseless  ailments?  What  is  the  worth  of 
distinction,  if  it  has  brought  hypochondria 
with  it?  Surely  none  needs  telling  that  a 
good  digestion,  a bounding  pulse,  and  high 
spirits  are  elements  of  happiness  which  no  ex- 
ternal advantages  can  outbalance.  Chronic 
bodily  disorder  casts  a gloom  over  the  bright- 
est prospects;  while  the  vivacity  of  strong 
health  gilds  even  misfortune.  We  contend, 
then,  that  this  over-education  is  vicious  in 
every  way — vicious,  as  giving  knowledge  that 
will  soon  be  forgotten ; vicious,  as  producing 
a disgust  for  knowledge ; vicious,  as  neglecting 
that  organization  of  knowledge  which  is  more 
important  than  its  acquisition;  vicious,  as 
weakening  or  destroying  that  energy,  without 
which  a trained  intellect  is  useless;  vicious, 
as  entailing  that  ill-health  for  which  even  suc- 
cess would  not  compensate,  and  which  makes 
failure  doubly  bitter. 

On  women  the  effects  of  this  forcing  system 
are,  if  possible,  even  more  injurious  than  on 
men.  Being  in  great  measure  debarred  from 
those  vigorous  and  enjoyable  exercises  of  body 
by  which  boys  mitigate  the  evils  of  excessive 


270 


EDUCATION . 


study,  girls  feed  these  evils  in  their  full  intensi- 
ty. Hence,  the  much  smaller  proportion  of 
them  who  grow  up  well  made  and  healthy.  In 
the  pale,  angular,  flat-chested  young  ladies,  so 
abundant  in  London  drawing-rooms,  we  see 
the  effect  of  merciless  application,  unrelieved 
by  youthful  sports ; and  this  physical  degen- 
eracy exhibited  by  them,  hinders  their  welfare 
far  more  than  their  many  accomplishments 
aid  it.  Mammas  anxious  to  make  their  daugh- 
ters attractive,  could  scarcely  choose  a course 
more  fatal  than  this,  which  sacrifices  the  body 
to  the  mind.  Either  they  disregard  the  tastes 
of  the  opposite  sex,  or  else  their  conception  of 
those  tastes  is  erroneous.  Men  care  compara- 
tively little  for  erudition  in  women ; but  very 
much  for  physical  beauty,  and  good-nature, 
and  sound  sense.  How  many  conquests  does 
the  blue-stocking  make  through  her  extensive 
knowledge  of  history?  What  man  ever  fell 
in  love  with  a woman  because  she  understood 
Italian  ? Where  is  the  Edwin  who  was  brought 
to  Angelina’s  feet  by  her  German?  But  rosy 
cheeks  and  laughing  eyes  are  great  attrac- 
tions. A finely  rounded  figure  draws  admir- 
ing glances.  The  liveliness  and  good  humor 
that  overflowing  health  produces,  go  a 
great  way  towards  establishing  attachments. 
Every  one  knows  cases  where  bodily  perfec- 
tions, in  the  absence  of  all  other  recommenda- 
tions, have  incited  a passion  that  carried  all 
before  it ; but  scarcely  any  one  can  point  to  a 
case  where  mere  intellectual  acquirements, 
apart  from  moral  or  physical  attributes,  have 


P1I Y SIC AL  EH  UCA  TION. 


271 


aroused  such  a feeling.  The  truth  is  that,  out 
of  the  many  elements  uniting  in  various  pro- 
portions to  produce  in  a man’s  breast  that 
complex  emotion  which  we  call  love,  the 
strongest  are  those  produced  by  physical  at- 
tractions ; the  next  in  order  of  strength  are 
those  produced  by  moral  attractions;  the 
weakest  are  those  produced  by  intellectual  at- 
tractions ; and  even  these  are  dependent  much 
less  upon  acquired  knowledge  than  on  natural 
faculty — quickness,  wit,  insight.  If  any  think 
the  assertion  a derogatory  one,  and  inveigh 
against  the  masculine  character  for  being  thus 
swayed ; we  reply  that  they  little  know  what 
they  say  when  they  thus  call  in  question  the 
Divine  ordinations.  Even  were  there  no  ob- 
vious meaning  in  the  arrangement,  we  might 
be  sure  that  some  important  end  was  sub- 
served. But  the  meaning  is  quite  obvious  to 
those  who  examine.  It  needs  but  to  remem- 
ber that  one  of  Nature’s  ends,  or  rather  her  su- 
preme end,  is  the  welfare  of  posterity — it  needs 
but  to  remember  that,  in  so  far  as  posterity 
are  concerned,  a cultivated  intelligence  based 
upon  a bad  physique  is  of  little  worth,  seeing 
that  its  descendants  will  die  out  in  a genera- 
tion or  two — it  needs  but  to  bear  in  mind  that 
a good  physique , however  poor  the  accompa- 
nying mental  endowments,  is  worth  preserv- 
ing, because,  throughout  future  generations, 
the  mental  endowments  may  be  indefinitely 
developed — it  needs  but  to  contemplate  these 
truths,  to  see  how  important  is  the  balance  of 
instincts  above  described.  But,  purpose  apart, 


272 


EDUCATION . 


the  instincts  being  thus  balanced,  it  is  a fatal 
folly  to  persist  in  a system  which  undermines 
a girl’s  constitution  that  it  may  overload  her 
memory.  Educate  as  highly  as  possible — the 
higher  the  better — providing  no  bodily  injury 
is  entailed  (and  we  may  remark,  in  passing, 
that  a high  standard  might  be  so  reached  were 
the  parrot-faculty  cultivated  less,  and  the  hu- 
man faculty  more,  and  were  the  discipline  ex- 
tended over  that  now  wasted  period  between 
leaving  school  and  being  married).  But  to 
educate  in  such  manner,  or  to  such  extent,  as 
to  produce  physical  degeneracy,  is  to  defeat 
the  chief  end  for  which  the  toil  and  cost  and 
anxiety  are  submitted  to.  By  subjecting 
their  daughters  to  this  high-pressure  system, 
parents  frequently  ruin  their  prospects  in  life. 
Not  only  do  they  inflict  on  them  enfeebled 
health,  with  all  its  pains  and  disabilities  and 
gloom;  but  very  often  they  actually  doom 
them  to  celibacy. 

Our  general  conclusion  is,  then,  that  the 
ordinary  treatment  of  children  is,  in  various 
ways,  seriously  prejudicial.  It  errs  in  defi- 
cient feeding;  in  deficient  clothing;  in  defi- 
cient exercise  (among  girls  at  least) ; and  in 
excessive  mental  application.  Considering 
the  regime  as  a whole,  its  tendency  is  too  ex- 
acting : it  asks  too  much  and  gives  too  little. 
In  the  extent  to  which  it  taxes  the  vital  ener- 
gies,  it  makes  the  juvenile  life  much  more 
like  the  adult  life  than  it  should  be.  It  over- 
looks the  truth  that,  as  in  the  foetus  the  en- 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION. 


273 


tire  vitality  is  expended  in  the  direction  of 
growth — as  in  the  infant,  the  expenditure  of 
vitality  in  growth  is  so  great  as  to  leave  ex- 
tremely little  for  either  physical  or  mental 
action;  so  throughout  childhood  and  youth 
growth  is  the  dominant  requirement  to  which 
all  others  must  be  subordinated:  a require- 
ment which  dictates  the  giving  of  much  and 
the  taking  away  of  little — a requirement 
which,  therefore,  restricts  the  exertion  of 
body  and  mind  to  a degree  proportionate  to 
the  rapidity  of  growth — a requirement  which 
permits  the  mental  and  physical  activities  to 
increase  only  as  fast  as  the  rate  of  growth 
diminishes. 

Regarded  from  another  point  of  view,  this 
high-pressure  education  manifestly  results 
from  our  passing  phase  of  civilization.  In 
primitive  times,  when  aggression  and  de- 
fence were  the  leading  social  activities,  bodily 
vigor  with  its  accompanying  courage  were 
the  desiderata;  and  then  education  was  al- 
most wholly  physical : mental  cultivation  was 
little  cared  for,  and  indeed,  as  in  our  own  feu- 
dal ages,  was  often  treated  with  contempt. 
But  now  that  our  state  is  relatively  peaceful 
— now  that  muscular  power  is  of  use  for  little 
else  than  manual  labor,  while  social  success 
of  nearly  every  kind  depends  very  much  on 
mental  power ; our  education  has  become  al- 
most exclusively  mental.  Instead  of  respect- 
ing the  body  and  ignoring  the  mind,  we  now 
respect  the  mind  and  ignore  the  body.  Both 
these  attitudes  are  wrong.  We  do  not  yet 
18 


274 


EDUCATION. 


sufficiently  realize  the  truth  that  as,  in  this 
life  of  ours,  the  physical  underlies  the  men- 
tal, the  mental  must  not  be  developed  at  the 
expense  of  the  physical.  The  ancient  and 
modern  conceptions  must  be  combined. 

Perhaps  nothing  will  so  much  hasten  the 
time  when  body  and  mind  will  both  be  ade- 
quately cared  for,  as  a diffusion  of  the  belief 
that  the  preservation  of  health  is  a duty. 
Few  seem  conscious  that  there  is  such  a thing 
as  physical  morality.  Men’s  habitual  words 
and  acts  imply  the  idea  that  they  are  at  lib- 
erty to  treat  their  bodies  as  they  please.  Dis- 
orders entailed  by  disobedience  to  Nature’s 
dictates,  they  regard  simply  as  grievances: 
not  as  the  effects  of  a conduct  more  or  less 
flagitious.  Though  the  evil  consequences 
inflicted  on  their  dependents,  and  on  future 
generations,  are  often  as  great  as  those  caused 
by  crime ; yet  they  do  not  think  themselves 
in  any  degree  criminal.  It  is  true,  that,  in 
the  case  of  drunkenness,  the  viciousness  of  a 
purely  bodily  transgression  is  recognized ; but 
none  appear  to  infer  that,  if  this  bodily  trans- 
gression is  vicious,  so  too  is  every  bodily 
transgression.  The  fact  is,  that  all  breaches 
of  the  laws  of  health  are  physical  sins.  When 
this  is  generally  seen,  then,  and  perhaps  not 
till  then,  will  the  physical  training  of  the 
young  red&tfe  yR||^^t€f^tiop:it  deserves. 

APR  15  1 932 

UNIVERSITY  Of  ILLINOIS. 


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